The Hindu : Five declared persona non grata

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 09, 2003

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Five declared persona non grata

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD FEB. 8. In a retaliatory action, Pakistan today declared the Indian Acting High Commissioner, Sudhir Vyas, another diplomat and three staffers in the mission as persona non grata (PNG) on charges of "spying" and thus plunged the already cold India-Pakistan ties to a new low. Islamabad's action came five hours after New Delhi's expulsions.

Pakistan's action came as no surprise and followed the familiar pattern in the past. In fact, the Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman, Aziz Ahmed Khan, appeared a bit uneasy as Pakistani correspondents sought details of the charges against Mr. Vyas and other Indian mission members.

In a way, Pakistan has been a step ahead in the game of expulsions. While India has declared only one Pakistani diplomat as PNG, Pakistan has asked two Indian diplomats to leave.

Following today's events, the Indian mission here has been left with just three diplomats and three advisers of the services wing. Pakistan has maintained a diplomatic silence on the offer made by India to fill up the vacancy created by the departure of Mr. Jilani.

Asked about it, the Foreign Office merely said that it would be decided as and when a view on it was taken. If Pakistan decides not to fill the vacancy, the implication is that the Indian and Pakistan missions would be further downgraded. They were downgraded when India recalled the then High Commissioner, Vijay K. Nambiar, on December 24, 2001.

Pakistan's stridency and aggressiveness were unmistakable. The Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, was quoted as telling journalists that "India would be paid back in the same coin". The Information and Media Development Minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, dubbed India's action as "diplomatic terrorism" and maintained that the events of last one month suggested a design. His argument was that the ruling party in India had made "anti-Pakistanism" its main plank to further its domestic political agenda. The steep plunge in India and Pakistan relations was evident from the fact that the decisions about the expulsions were conveyed in a matter-of-fact three-paragraph statement. Vikram Misri, who was promoted hours before as Counsellor in the Indian Mission, was summoned to the Foreign Office and handed over the brief letter. The whole affair lasted for less than two minutes.

The letter said Pakistan declared Sudhir Vyas, Rahul Rastogra, First Secretary (Commerce, Media and Visa), M.R. Balu, Ranbir Singh and Surinder Raj Singh (all staffers) as PNG "for involvement in activities incompatible with their status".

They have to leave within 48 hours while their families get seven days time as provided in the Bilateral Code of Conduct signed between the two countries in August 1992. Mr. Vyas and his colleagues would leave on Monday morning by road and cross the Wagha border around 3 p.m.

Mr. Misri was also told that reciprocating the Indian decision to further cut down the strength of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi from 51 to 47 personnel, Pakistan has also decided to apply the same staff ceiling on the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. Prior to the decision of India in the last week of December 2001 to cut down the size of the mission to half, the effective strength was reduced to 55.

It was down to 51 when India expelled four members of the Pakistan mission in the fourth week of January and Pakistan followed suit.

Diplomatic observers say that the latest development does not augur well for peace in the region. What is causing anxiety is the trend of targeting each other's diplomats. "One wonders how much more the relations between India and Pakistan could deteriorate. Both sides are not even on talking terms and the diplomatic missions in both the capitals have been reduced to non-entities. The rate at which things are going, the day might not be far off when even the missions would be shut down," said a Western diplomat.

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