0
ISLAMABAD, March 2: Pakistan has strongly condemned the attack on its High Commission staffers in New Delhi by the Indian intelligence operatives on Saturday afternoon during which the staff members were illegally detained and tortured in violation of all diplomatic norms.
Lodging a strong protest with India over what Pakistan termed reprehensible, provocative and cowardly action by the Indian intelligence operatives, the government said the action was in violation of the Vienna Convention of 1961 on diplomatic relations as well as the Bilateral Code of Conduct signed between the two countries in August 1992.
“The government of Pakistan strongly condemns the abduction, illegal detention and torture of Mr Gul Zarin and Mr Sultan Mehmood, officials of the High Commission of Pakistan in New Delhi, by the Indian intelligence operatives this afternoon,” a statement by the Foreign Office said. The Foreign Office said the Indian intelligence operatives attacked the Pakistan High Commission car in which the two officials were proceeding to the New Delhi railway station. The officials were dragged out of car and subjected to severe beating while being accused of pick pocketing, the Foreign Office said.
It said the High Commission officials were kept in illegal detention, severely beaten and tortured resulting in visible injuries on their bodies. Sultan Mehmood suffered injuries on his right eye, while the car was badly damaged during the attack.
The officials were released after more than four hours of illegal detention and physical torture, the Foreign Office said.
INDIAN STATEMENT: A junior Pakistani diplomat and his driver were caught in New Delhi on Saturday receiving classified documents from a local contact, an Indian foreign ministry spokesman said, adds Reuters.
“The driver and junior diplomat were apprehended receiving classified documents from their Indian contact today (Saturday),” the spokesman said. “The Indian contact has been arrested.”
The two detained men were “in the process of being handed over” to the Pakistan High Commission, the spokesman said. He expected they would be asked to leave the country.
Pakistan’s Deputy High Commissioner Jalil Abbas Jilani called the Indian foreign ministry’s statement a fabrication to cover up what he said was “ill-treatment” of the two men by Indian authorities. The Indian official declined to say what kind of documents were involved in Saturday’s case.
