India summons Pak envoy, lodges protest over 'abduction and torture' of 2 embassy officials in Islamabad
New Delhi/IBNS: The Indian Government on Tuesday summoned Pakistan High Commission's Charge d’ Affaires Haider Shah and lodged a strong protest on the issue of the abduction and torture of two officials of the Indian Embassy in Islamabad by Pakistan security agencies.
Two officials of the Indian High Commission were "forcibly abducted" by Pakistani agencies on Monday and kept in "illegal custody for more than 10 hours."
They were later released after strong intervention by the High Commission of India in Islamabad and the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi.
"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 Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.
The vehicle of the High Commission, in which they were travelling, was extensively damaged.
India slammed the Pakistani authorities' move and said the same was 'premeditated, grave and provocative.'
"The Government of India strongly condemns and deplores the action of the Pakistani authorities in this regard. This premeditated, grave and provocative action on the part of the Pakistani authorities, preceded by intensified surveillance, harassment and intimidation of High Commission personnel over the past several days, was designed to obstruct and disrupt the normal functioning of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad," the statement said.
The MEA said the attempt by Pakistani authorities "to levy false accusations and concocted charges on the officials of the High Commission is rejected in entirety."
"These actions by Pakistan 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 added.
The issue surfaced after two Indian High Commission staffers in Pakistan went missing on Monday.
After they were released from the Pakistani custody, a notification from Isalmabad's Foreign Affairs Ministry claimed that the two staffers had been involved in a road accident.
The incident comes weeks after two Pakistani officials working at the country's High Commission in New Delhi were deported after being accused of espionage.
The two officers worked in the visa section of the Pakistani embassy and were caught in an act of spying.
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