International - India & World   

Pakistan clarifies on curbs on diplomats

Nirupama Subramanian

"Privileges and facilities given on the principle of reciprocity"

ISLAMABAD: Turning up the heat in a row with India over travel restrictions on its diplomats based in New Delhi, Pakistan said on Saturday that the privileges it offered Indian diplomats here were given on the principle of reciprocity.

The Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Tasnim Aslam, stopped short of confirming a local television report that her Government had imposed restrictions on Indian diplomats.

However, Ms. Aslam said "the privileges and facilities to Indian diplomats in Islamabad are given on the principle of reciprocity."

While diplomats at the Indian High Commission could travel to Murree, a hill station that is a two-hour drive from the capital, and Rawalpindi, which is an entirely different city, Pakistani diplomats based in New Delhi could not travel to Gurgaon and Noida. The spokeswoman insisted that both cities were part of Delhi, and that the airport was in Gurgaon.

In discussions over the last three months, India had refused to accept Pakistan's proposals for an all-around relaxation of travel restrictions for diplomats on both sides, Ms. Aslam said.

"We have been unable to convince the Ministry of External Affairs that [the restrictions] are contrary to the spirit of the peace process and our efforts to improve the environment between the two countries," she said.

Asked if that meant the discussions had ended and the facility available to Indian diplomats to travel to Murree and Rawalpindi had been withdrawn, Ms. Aslam declined to comment.

Deputy High Commissioner of India T.C.A. Raghavan said the mission had not been informed of any new travel restrictions.

"And if these restrictions have been imposed, we did not realise that the discussions [between the two sides on this issue] had ended," Mr. Raghavan said.

Pakistani diplomats are allowed travel within Delhi, including Old Delhi, and restrictions on their travel to Gurgaon and Noida, which were in other States, were not new, he said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

U.N. appeals for an end to hostilities in Sri Lanka
N. Korea wants to keep nuclear weapons as "deterrence"
5 die in Russian air crashes
Iran ready to share nuclear technology with neighbours
UAE goes to the polls
Pakistan clarifies on curbs on diplomats
China assures India it will work for ensuring energy security
India to seek details on U.S. military aircraft

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu