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Pak. agrees to raise High Commission staff strength

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD Oct. 6. Pakistan has agreed to the Indian proposal to raise the strength of diplomatic and non-diplomatic staff at the Indian and Pakistani High Commissions in Islamabad and New Delhi from 47 to 55.

India had conveyed the proposal to Pakistan a few days ago. The initial reaction of Islamabad was lukewarm with the Pakistan Foreign Office maintaining that it would have been better if New Delhi had agreed to restore the original strength of missions to 110 each. Last weekend, Pakistan conveyed to India its readiness to increase the strength of the missions by eight more members on both sides. The formalities on filling up the vacancies is expected to take a few weeks but would go a long way in easing the pressure on both the embassies in coping with the rush for visas.

India cut the number of staff at the High Commissions from 110 to 55 after the December 2001 attack on Parliament. Later tit-for-tat expulsions of High Commissioners and diplomatic staff reduced the number to 47 in each High Commission.

Responding to the May 3 peace initiative of confidence building measures by the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Pakistan Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan, on May 6 in his response wanted the restoration of the strength in both the missions to the position that prevailed before December 31, 2001. But India said it preferred a step-by-step approach.

The Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, Shishankar Menon, said that Pakistan had conveyed its consent to increase the staff strength at both the High Commissions to 55 as suggested by New Delhi a few weeks ago.

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