ISLAMABAD: (Web Desk) – Pakistan has declared a staff member of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad persona non grata for engaging in activities “inconsistent with his privileged status.”
The diplomat has been given 24 hours to leave the country, according to a press release issued by the Foreign Office, it emerged on Thursday.
The Indian Chargé d’Affaires was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to communicate the decision. Pakistan reiterated that no diplomat or staff member of the Indian High Commission should misuse their privileges and status in any manner.
The development comes hours after India declared a Pakistani official posted at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi ‘persona non grata’ for similar reasons.
The Indian government issued a statement demanding that the Pakistani official leave within 24 hours, reinforcing its call for diplomats to refrain from activities beyond their official duties.
A demarche was also delivered to Pakistan’s Charge d’Affaires, urging him to ensure that Pakistani diplomats in India do not misuse their status.
Earlier, a suicide attack targeting a school bus in Khuzdar, Balochistan, resulted in the martyrdom of at least six individuals, including three schoolchildren.
Several others were injured when an explosive-laden vehicle rammed into the bus carrying students to the Army Public School (APS) in the Khuzdar cantonment.
The vehicle, according to the Bomb Disposal Squad, was rigged with more than 30 kilograms of explosives. The military’s media wing, ISPR, blamed India and its proxies in Balochistan for orchestrating the attack.
