Two officials of Indian High Commission in Islamabad have been missing since Monday morning. The Centre has taken up the matter with authorities in Pakistan. It is suspected that the two staffers may have been picked up by Pakistani security agencies to frame them as spies.
According to information available so far, the two were CISF drivers who didn’t reach their destination after stepping out for some work in the same vehicle around 8 am on Monday.
The Pakistani move is seen as tit-for-tat over the expulsion of two Pakistan high commission officials caught spying two weeks ago.
Several top Indian diplomats in Pakistan have since then been aggressively tailed over the last several days and India has even protested against the excessive surveillance.
Pakistan apparently is keen to “level the score” by expelling Indian officials on similar charges as those faced by its staff here, who were declared persona non grata. The last time India expelled a Pakistan official for espionage, Islamabad managed to restore parity in 3 days by doing the same to an Indian official.
India had on Friday registered a protest with Pakistan authorities in the form of a note verbale against the surveillance. The government has conveyed to Pakistan that the behaviour of its agencies violated Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961 and also the bilateral 1992 Code of Conduct which the 2 countries signed to provide diplomats immunity from hostilities in ties.
India had asked Pakistan to ensure the safety and security of the Indian high commission and its staff and to allow them to resume their activities in keeping with the Vienna Convention. Pakistan has said that activities have been curtailed keeping in mind the Coronavirus threat.
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