The Hindu : The endless game of expulsions

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 30, 2003

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The endless game of expulsions

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI Jan. 29. The expulsion of Counsellor-level diplomats by India and Pakistan last week is a first in many years. Usually, attaches and those below their rank have been targets of physical attacks and expulsions between the two countries.

On January 23, India expelled a Counsellor, a First Secretary and two staffers in apparent response to the "boxing in" of its Charge d'Affaires, Sudhir Vyas, in Islamabad by the Pakistani intelligence agencies. The next day Pakistan replied in "kind" by expelling a Second Secretary, an attache and a staffer.

The blocking of Mr. Vyas' "flag car", according to sources in the capital, was itself in retaliation to the tailing of Mr. Vyas' Pakistani counterpart in New Delhi, Jalil Abbas Jilani. The sources claimed that Mr. Jilani was not being tailed earlier — a "normal" occurrence for Mr. Vyas and his predecessors in Islamabad. So, what was done to Mr. Vyas was in "retaliation" for the tailing and surveillance of Mr. Jilani, it is believed.

The last, well-publicised incident of Counsellor-level expulsion dates back to May 1992, when Akhilesh Mittal of the Indian High Commission was kidnapped and beaten up badly by Pakistani intelligence agencies. His condition was so bad that a special aircraft had to be flown to Pakistan to bring him back. Needless to say, he was declared `PNG' (persona non grata) by the Pakistani authorities — the acronym which often crops up in India-Pakistan bilateral relations. In retaliation for the Mittal incident, India had expelled two consular-level diplomats from the Pakistani mission in New Delhi.

It would appear that after the current round of expulsions between the two countries there is a "pause" now.

However, given the uncertain nature of the relations between the two countries, it cannot be predicted as to how long the "pause" will last.

For the moment, however, there appears to be no signs that New Delhi will be seeking diplomatic credentials for Harsh Bhasin, the officer "identified" as the possible High Commissioner to Pakistan, from Islamabad.

Mr. Bhasin, who now has an office in South Block, is likely to remain in New Delhi for the foreseeable future.

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