New Delhi summons Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs has summoned Haider Shah, chargé d'affaires of Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, and lodged a strong protest on the issue of the abduction and torture of two officials of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad by Pakistan security agencies.

Two officials of the Indian High Commission were forcibly abducted by Pakistani agencies on Monday, kept in illegal custody for more than 10 hours and tortured, the ministry said in a statement yesterday.

"The two Indian officials were subjected to interrogation, torture and physical assault resulting in grievous injuries to them. They were video-graphed and coerced to accept a litany of fictitious allegations and concocted charges. The vehicle of the High Commission, in which they were travelling, was extensively damaged," according to the statement.

The Indian officials were freed only after strong intervention by the High Commission of India in Islamabad and the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi.

"India strongly condemns and deplores the action of the Pakistani authorities in this regard," the statement said.

"This premeditated, grave and provocative action on the part of the Pakistani authorities, preceded by intensified surveillance, harassment and intimidation of Indian High Commission personnel over the past several days, was designed to obstruct and disrupt the normal functioning of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad," it also said.

"The attempt by Pakistani authorities to levy false accusations and concocted charges on the officials of the High Commission is rejected in entirety," the Indian statement said.

The actions by Pakistan authorities "not only constitute an egregious violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 as also the 'Code of Conduct for treatment of diplomatic/consular personnel in India and Pakistan signed in 1992 and reaffirmed by both sides in March 2018, but are also against all established norms and practices of diplomatic conduct," it also said.

"Such continued unilateral actions by Pakistan, aimed at escalating tensions, will not succeed in diverting attention from the core issue of Pakistan's continued hostile activities and sponsorship of cross-border terrorism against India," the statement added.