India, Pakistan pull out 50% of staff in their missions in each other's capitals

India and Pakistan on Tuesday moved ahead to implement decisions on downgrading the diplomatic relations between the two nations, withdrawing half of the officials posted in the High Commissions of the respective countries in each other’s capitals.

New Delhi withdrew 50% of the officials, who were posted at the High Commission of India (HCI) in the capital of the neighboring country. Islamabad too pulled out half of its officials posted in the High Commission of Pakistan in the capital of India, as New Delhi had asked it to do so on June 23.

Twenty-eight officials of the HCI in Islamabad crossed over from Pakistan to India through the Wagah-Attari border late on Tuesday. The members of their families too returned with them. Altogether 39 members of the staff of the neighboring country’s High Commission in New Delhi and their families too left India.

India on June 23 moved to downgrade its diplomatic relations with Pakistan, asking the government of the neighboring country to withdraw half of the personnel working at its High Commission in New Delhi within the next seven days. New Delhi cited the involvement of the officials of the High Commission of Pakistan in espionage against India as well as their “dealings” with terrorists as reasons for its decision.

It also decided to withdraw 50% of its personnel currently posted at the High Commission of India in Islamabad, protesting against the attempt by the security and intelligence agencies of the neighboring country to intimidate its diplomats and consular officials.

Islamabad in August 2019 made New Delhi withdraw India’s High Commissioner to Pakistan, Ajay Bisaria, in the wake of the decision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and reorganize the state into two Union Territories.

Pakistan also did not send its newly-appointed High Commissioner to India, Moin-ul-Haq, to New Delhi. The High Commissions of India and Pakistan in each other’s capitals were headed by acting envoys over the past few months.

India had in December 2001 last asked Pakistan to withdraw half of the personnel posted at its High Commission in New Delhi. It had also cut down the staff of its High Commission in the capital of Pakistan by 50%.

The move had come in the aftermath of the December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament of India in New Delhi by the terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), both based in Pakistan.