ISLAMABAD - Pakistan yesterday said it will defeat Indian conspiracies meant to create unrest in the country.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said whenever Pakistan moves towards stability, the anti-Pakistan forces create disruption.
“The entire nation stands by the armed forces and the law enforcement agencies of the country against terrorism,” he said in a statement.
Qureshi said that India does not want peace in Afghanistan as peace in Afghanistan will reduce India’s importance. “India wants to divert its people's attention towards Pakistan,” he maintained.
The FM said that the personnel of Pakistan security forces have defeated the menace of terrorism by rendering sacrifices of their lives.
“We will have to understand the severity of the situation. The opposition should understand the Indian conspiracies,” he added. Amid tensions, Pakistan and India yesterday called back several diplomats as directed by the respective governments.
Last week, Pakistan and India had asked each other to reduce strength of High Commissions in Islamabad and New Delhi by 50 per cent.
At least 38 staff members of Indian High Commission including six diplomats and their families left for India via Wagah-Attari Border yesterday.
Officials said around 100 Pakistanis including families of diplomatic staff also returned to Pakistan via Wagah Border.
Tensions between the two countries began back on May 31, when two officials of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi were ordered to leave the country within 24 hours after being declared "persona non grata".
Pakistan Foreign Office strongly condemned this move, calling it "undesirable". Foreign Office spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said that it was part of India s anti-Pakistan propaganda. Pakistan Foreign Office later summoned Indian Charge d Affaires to register a protest over New Delhi’s decision.
A week later, India once again violated diplomatic etiquette and International Law with its harassment of Pakistani diplomats continuing in New Delhi.
The Indian authorities kept blocking the car of the Pakistani Chief of Staff and the acting High Commissioner. Officials of Indian secret services tried to stop the car of Syed Haider Shah in an attempt to harass the Pakistani High Commissioner.
The incident took place as senior diplomats were heading home from the office. Syed Haider Shah’s car was stopped and Indian officials misbehaved with the Pakistani diplomat. Pakistan strongly protested against the incident, saying the Indian move was a clear violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
Bilateral tensions have deteriorated since last August when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government unilaterally stripped the Indian-ruled portion of Kashmir of its decades-old constitutional semiautonomous status.
New Delhi also placed the Muslim-majority region under a strict security and communication lockdown to deter violent reaction against the move.
Pakistan swiftly rejected India’s Kashmir-related actions, saying a decades-old United Nations resolution prevents both countries from unilaterally altering the region’s status.
Islamabad also downgraded bilateral diplomatic and trade ties with New Delhi in protest.
