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| December 22, 2001 | Saturday | Shawwal 6, 1422 |
New Delhi recalls envoy from Islamabad: Threat to snap road, rail links from Jan 1
NEW DELHI, Dec 21: India on Friday announced that it was recalling its envoy to Islamabad in protest against Pakistan’s failure to act against terrorist groups it accuses of involvement in last week’s attack on Parliament House.
An Indian foreign ministry spokesperson also said that the lone border post for civilian traffic between the two sides would be effectively closed for nationals of both countries with the proposed withdrawal of the Delhi-Lahore bus service and the Samjhauta Express rail link from Jan 1.
A Pakistani diplomat, however, told Dawn that Islamabad would not be withdrawing its own envoy, High Commissioner Ashraf Jehangir Qazi from New Delhi. Diplomats of other key countries trying to stave off military action between the two nuclear-armed neighbours were now looking to Kabul where they said they would try to get the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan to meet to ease their standoff.
India’s Jaswant Singh and Pakistan’s Abdul Sattar are due to attend the inauguration of Afghanistan’s interim government on Saturday, where they could be nudged by one or more friendly countries to help ease their tense ties.
Qazi, speaking on an Indian news channel said he was disappointed by India’s move to withdraw High Commissioner Vijay Nambiar without giving a reasonable chance to Pakistan to help identify the culprits of the Dec 13 attack. India has blamed Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jaish-i-Muhammad groups for the attack in which five militants and seven Indians including security personnel were killed.
Announcing New Delhi’s recall of Nambiar from Islamabad, foreign ministry spokesperson Nirupama Rao said: “Since the Dec 13 attack on Parliament, we have seen no attempt on the part of Pakistan to take action against the organizations involved.”
“In view of this complete lack of concern on the part of Pakistan and its continued promotion of cross-border terrorism, the government of India has decided to recall its High Commissioner in Pakistan,” Rao said.
Hours after the announcement, Pakistan said it was deeply concerned about reports of Indian troop movements along its borders, which it said would aggravate a tense situation and oblige Islamabad to take appropriate counter measures.
“The Indian troop movements, which follow provocative and threatening statements by Indian leadership, would aggravate an already tense situation in the region,” a Foreign Ministry statement quoted a spokesman as saying.
While India has demanded that Pakistan arrest leaders of the two groups and freeze their assets, both groups have denied involvement in the attack. Pakista