Pakistan’s Chargé d’affaires to India, Syed Hyder Shah, was on Monday summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs after two Indian High Commission officials have gone mission since today morning.
Their whereabouts have been untraceable so far.
The MEA had take up the matter with Islamabad as soon as the news of their disappearance broke and sought a response.
“A vehicle with two Central Industrial Security Force drivers had gone out for duty, did not reach the destination. Since then they are missing,” sources quoted by IANS said.
Akhilesh Singh, First Secretary and Spokesperson, Indian High Commission, Pakistan has said that the two officials have been missing since morning while on official work.
Meanwhile, according to government sources quoted by NDTV, the two officers are in the custody of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
The incident comes just days after two Pakistani officials of the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi were caught for espionage and asked by India to leave the country after being declared persona non grata.
Also Pakistan’s Chargé d’affaires was issued a demarche in which a strong protest was lodged over the activities of the two officials against India’s national security.
Thereafter, Pakistan has been trying a tit-for-tat, targeting to expel Indian High Commission officials from the country for one reason or another.
A few days back, the vehicle of India’s Charge d’affaires Gaurav Ahluwalia was chased by a member of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) on June 4.
Sources stated that the ISI had stationed multiple persons in cars and bikes outside his residence to harass and intimidate him.
Ahluwalia is the top Indian diplomat currently posted in Islamabad.
The High Commission in Pakistan has been finding it difficult to resume normal functioning as Indian diplomats and consular officials have been facing aggressive tailing and surveillance.
Last Friday, India registered protest in the form of a note verbale to Pakistan authorities. India has asked Pakistan to ensure the safety and security of the Indian High Commission and its staff and to allow them to resume their activities in keeping with the Vienna Convention.
India told Pakistan that the behaviour of its agencies violated Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961 and also the bilateral 1992 Code of Conduct which the two countries signed to provide diplomats immunity from hostilities in ties.
In March, the Indian High Commission in Pakistan had sent a strong protest note to the foreign ministry in Islamabad protesting against the continuing harassment of its officers and staff by Pakistani agencies.
According to the note, India cited 13 instances of harassment in the month of March itself and asked Pakistan to stop such incidents and investigate the matter.
India had asked Pakistani authorities to “investigate these incidents urgently and instruct the relevant agencies to ensure that similar incidents do not recur”.