Thank you for coming on a Saturday morning. I wanted to inform you that Syed Ibne Abbas Counsellor in thePakistani High Commission was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs today. It was conveyed to him thatJalil Abbas Jilani, Charge d Affaires of the Pakistan High Commission has been found indulging in activitiesincompatible with his official status. His withdrawal from India was sought within the next 48 hours.
It was also conveyed that the Government of India did not intend any down-gradation in the level ofrepresentation of the CDA and would be ready to give a visa at the earliest to his replacement. In view of theinvolvement of some other officials of the Pakistan High Commission in activities incompatible with theirofficial status, on this and some other occasions and keeping in mind the seriousness with which theGovernment of India assessed the present activity, the Government of India also sought the recall of fourother officials of the Pakistan High Commission. These are:
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(i) Habib-ur-Rehman;
(ii) Aftab Ahmed,
(iii) Abdul Razak,
(iv) Muhammad Nazir.
Was this expulsion of this four staff officials linked to Abbas Jilani’s case?
As I said it is for activities incompatible with their official status and on this and some other occasions.
Do you recall such a withdrawal of a senior official at this level from the High Commission earlier or thisis the first time?
I will have to check that as to when and how any body else left. As you know in December following the attackon our Parliament the staff component of the Pakistani High Commission and in fact our component there hadbeen cut into half and some days ago we had on similar charges asked four other people to leave.
You said you are ready to give visa, not to downgrade. Don’t you think this gives a very negative impactto our already bad India and Pakistan relations?
The activities of the CDA were not meant to improve relations. These are not the activities of a diplomat,neither normal nor keeping with his status. Government of India is recognising the fact that we are notdowngrading the level of representation below CDA.
But diplomatic relations does not solely depend on India. Pakistan may also………
Well I am not going to speculate on what Pakistan may or may not do. We have taken our action based on hardevidence.
What is that evidence. Can you share that?
We have evidence that he was indulging in activities which are incompatible with his official status. Thespecific circumstances which you have already heard about and seen in the newspapers yesterday.
What is the time given to them to leave the country?
48 hours and 7 days for the family members.
But in normal cases 7 days are given to leave. Why in this case its 48 hours only?
I don’t know what is your standard of normalcy. It is not normal for a CDA to be indulging in theseactivities. The circumstances of the case necessitate a very serious view to be taken by the Government ofIndia and this has been done.
