The Pakistan daily Dawn reported that the Islamabad is considering pulling out four officials from its New Delhi High Commission who was named during interrogation by Mehmood Akhtar, the commission official caught and expelled by India last week for undercover work.
Islamabad may pull out its four official, posted at Delhi High Commission
Indian has made Akhtar statement public after the interrogation, including the name of four officers. A foreign office official told Dawn that the four and their families living in New Delhi are facing difficulties. This is the reason why Islamabad may pull out these officials from the Capital.
“This is under consideration. A final decision would be taken shortly,” said the official, to Dawn yesterday.
Pakistan officials believe India’s move to make public the four officials names was a deliberated and proactive action to enhance the tensions between the two rivals. We consider it as a serious breach of diplomatic norms. The India has made the already tense situation and threatened the lives of our diplomatic staff, said official.
Staff of Pakistan high commission criticized Shariff’s government
The official told Dawn that a son of one of the four officers named had to be taken home from school recently after he was mocked by his class fellows following this disclosure. In a phone call, one of the family members of staff at the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi criticized the Pakistani government for not taking any action to take them out of this trouble. It is matter of life and death for us, but the government response had been too mild, the family member said.
India last Thursday declared Akhtar persona non-grata for espionage activities after he was caught red-handed by the Delhi Police with documents related to defence deployment.
On the other hand, Akhtar told Dawn that the statement he gave after detained in which he named four other officials was under pressure.
I named my four colleagues due to the pressure of police: Akhtar
Dawn quoted Akhtar statement was posted at Delhi High Commissioner that they took me to a police station after detaining me where I was forced to read out a written statement by them in which the names of four officers were given and was told to state that they belonged to Pakistani’s intelligence services, the former high commission official, who deported to Islamabad last week.