India to reduce Pakistani staff at New Delhi embassy

NEW DELHI: Indian authorities have decided to reduce the number of employees in Pakistan Embassy in New Delhi by upto 50 percent.

According to media reports, India has also decided to reduce staff in its own embassy in Islamabad by the same amount.

The decision was made days after two of its High Commission officials were arrested by police for their involvement in a hit-and-run accident and possession of fake currency on June 15. However, both men were later released and sent back to India after intervention by the Foreign Office.

Later, Authorities sent back the two Indian High Commission officials who were involved in a hit-and-run incident in Islamabad.

As per details, the two Indian officials, Dwimu Brahma and Paul Selvadhas were sent back to India via the Wagah border crossing.

Indian High Commission spokesperson Akhilesh Singh in a statement said, “The two Indian officials have returned to India today morning through Wagah-Attari.”

On 18 June, the Foreign Office (FO) had rejected the Indian Ministry of External Affairs’ “irresponsible” statement regarding the detention of the two officials, calling it a “reprehensible attempt to distort facts and deny culpability”.

The statement had come in response to the Indian foreign ministry’s reported claim that the two staff members had been “subjected to interrogation, torture and physical assault, resulting in grievous injuries”.

While rejecting the claim, the FO spokesperson had said that a pedestrian was “seriously injured” after being hit by Brahma and Paul’s vehicle and was taken to hospital.

“The officials attempted to flee from the scene, however, some passersby who witnessed the incident stopped them from fleeing and informed the police,” the spokesperson had said in a statement.

“During the course of the investigation, the fake currency was also recovered from the aforementioned officials. After it was confirmed that the said officials were from the Indian High Commission, they were released and handed over to a senior diplomat from the commission.

According to the first information report (FIR) registered with the Secretariat Police Station, the two officials, who were driving to the high commission in a dark-colored car early in the morning, had hit a pedestrian attempting to cross the road.

The pedestrian, who was not identified in the report, was seriously injured and shifted to the Poly Clinic hospital by passersby, police said.

The two persons in the car, according to police, tried to flee after the accident on Khayaban-i-Suhrawardy but were stopped by people who had gathered at the scene. 

They were handed over to the police and were later shifted to the police station for interrogation. According to the FIR, fake currency notes worth Rs10,000 were also seized from them.

India has been facing criticism from around the world for its brutal acts and human rights violations in Jammu Kashmir and for hatred against the minorities, especially the Muslim community.

India’s position and image were tarnished after it got involved in a border clash with China. At least more than 20 Indian soldiers were killed while several others suffered injuries during clashes with Chinese troops.