Pakistan rejects appointment of senior diplomat at Indian HC

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on rejected India’s bid to appoint senior diplomat Jayant Khobragade as Charge d’ Affaires at its High Commission in Islamabad, terming them incommensurate with the decision to downgrade diplomatic ties,

In a statement, Foreign Office spokesperson said the news reports of some Indian media, quoting sources in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, regarding assignment visa for senior Indian diplomat Jayant Khobragade proposed as Charge d’ Affaires at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, were misleading.

He said following India’s illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019 in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan took a number of steps including the downgrading of diplomatic relations with India.

The purpose of downgrading the relations was to register Pakistan’s strong protest and condemnation of India’s illegal, inhuman and unacceptable actions in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

The spokesperson said Pakistan believes that by proposing a senior diplomat, who has already served as an ambassador in another post, India is trying to circumvent the effect of downgrading of diplomatic relations, which is obviously not in line with Pakistan’s decision.

He said that keeping in view the diplomatic norms, Pakistan has counseled India to nominate an officer with seniority commensurate with Pakistan’s decision of downgrading diplomatic relations.

Indian media has earlier reported that Pakistan has denied a visa for Indian diplomat Jayant Khobragade, rejecting his appointment as India’s charge d’affaires in Islamabad. Khobragade was proposed for the position in June when India had scaled down diplomatic ties with Pakistan