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Routine, not recall: MEA on Pak High Commissioner to India being called back

Routine, not recall: MEA on Pak High Commissioner to India being called back

MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar

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Pakistan government called Pakistan High Commissioner to India Sohail Mahmood for consultation over the alleged harassment of officials and families of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi

It is pretty normal for any High Commissioner to go back for consultation and ''We have no comments to offer on why he has gone back,'' said Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson for Ministry of External Affairs on Pakistan High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood.

It's not a question of recall. It's routine, he added.

Our ambassadors do come for consultationand there is no linkage, he said.

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Earlier Pakistan government called itsHigh Commissioner to India Sohail Mahmood for consultation over the alleged harassment of officials and families of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.

Speaking to reporters, Raveesh Kumar said''We want that our Commission in Islamabad functions smoothly, the officials are not harassed, their work is not obstructed andthat the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961 is abided by.''

''We have seen reports on issues raised by Pakistan. We will not like to respond through media but will take it up diplomatic channels.We have raised this through diplomatic channels in the past for the safety and security of our envoys,'' he added.

On Wednesday, the Pakistan government had summoned India's Deputy High Commissioner J P Singh over the issue.

JP Singh was summoned by Director General (South Asia & SAARC) Mohammad Faisal and a strong protest was lodged at the "maltreatment being meted out to the officials and families of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi", according to a statement by the Office of Spokesperson of Pakistan Foreign Affairs Ministry

A demarche was earlier made to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad and the external affairs ministry in Delhi, a diplomatic source was quoted as saying by the Dawn.

The Pakistan High Commission had lodged complaints of harassment with the external affairs ministry last week.

India's external affairs ministry had assured Pak officials of investing.