Amid the ongoing border tensions between India and China, Two officials at Pakistan’s High Commission in New Delhi were being expelled for “espionage activities”, India’s foreign ministry said late Sunday.
“The government has declared both these officials persona non grata for indulging in activities incompatible with their status as members of a diplomatic mission,” the ministry said in a statement. The pair has been asked to leave the country “within 24 hours.”
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said it “strongly rejects the baseless Indian allegations” and called Delhi’s action a “clear violation of the Vienna Convention, especially in an already vitiated atmosphere”.
Kashmir has become a bigger source of tension in relations between the regional powers after New Delhi last August scrapped the Muslim-majority region’s semi-autonomous status and imposed a curfew.
In response, Islamabad at that time said it would recall its ambassador from Delhi and send back the Indian envoy, Late Sunday, Pakistan summoned India’s charge d’affaires to express its “condemnation” of the expulsion order.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars against each other since independence, including two over Kashmir where they have rival claims.
Sunday’s expulsion order came after a German court in early May said an Indian national will stand trial there in August accused of spying on Sikh and Kashmiri communities for New Delhi’s secret service.