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Outraged by the abduction and assault of two Indian High Commission officials in Pakistan by Inter-Services Intelligence agents, India on Friday lodged a strong protest and demanded that appropriate action be taken against those responsible for it.
New Delhi's protest over the "reprehensible" and "uncivilised" incidents on Thursday in Islamabad and Lahore were conveyed both in India and Pakistan.
Pakistan High Commissioner Ashraf Jehangir Qazi was summoned to South Block by R S Kalha, Secretary (West), in the external affairs ministry and conveyed the government's protest in the "strongest possible terms at the crude and uncivilised behaviour of Pakistan's intelligence operatives" that included an assault on one of the staff members wife.
In Islamabad, Indian High Commissioner Vijay K Nambiar took up the matter with the Pakistan foreign office.
P Ravindranathan, an attaché in the Indian mission who was badly beaten up, has a "blurred vision" and is suspected to have sustained internal injuries, an external affairs ministry spokesperson told reporters.
Ravindranathan, who was travelling to Lahore en route to the Indian border at Wagah-Attari with his wife and son, was accosted by an individual who said he was an ISI officer.
The ISI official demanded to see the contents of the bag being carried by the Indian staffer when the bus arrived at Lahore, the spokesperson said.
Upon his refusal to do so, the agent forcibly opened the bag. He also sought to confiscate the money but returned it when the Indian official threatened to report the incident to the police.
Thereafter, Ravindranathan was threatened with "dire consequences" if he returned to Pakistan. The Indian official lodged an FIR at the Gulberg police station in Lahore.
The Indian High Commissioner raised the issue with Pakistan Foreign Secretary Inamul Haq on Thursday evening.
In the second incident, Devendra Kumar Gupta, working in the visa section, was intercepted by at least eight Pakistani intelligence operatives when he was returning home from the central market place, Blue Area around 9 pm on Thursday night.
Both Gupta and his wife were dragged out. Gupta's wife was gagged and manhandled by an operative while being dragged to one side, the spokesperson said. "In the process, she sustained scratches on her face."
Gupta, who was expelled from Pakistan on Wednesday in a retaliatory action and told to leave within seven days, was then pulled into the Land Cruiser driven by the Pakistani officials and taken to an unknown destination.
Gupta was released early Friday "in a badly beaten and bruised state", the spokesperson said. An FIR had been lodged with the Kohsar police station in Islamabad.
She said Kalha conveyed India's strong condemnation of these reprehensible incidents involving forcible abduction, harassment and assault of high commission officials and their family members.
The Pakistan high commissioner was also reminded of Islamabad's obligations under the Vienna Convention of 1960 and the 1992 Bilateral Code of Conduct for treatment of diplomatic and consular personnel in the two countries.
Kalha demanded that appropriate action be taken by the authorities in Pakistan against those responsible for these incidents.
"The fact that the second incident took place soon after the Indian high commissioner had personally brought the first incident to the attention of the Pakistan foreign secretary, naturally raises obvious questions," the spokesperson said.
Terming these acts as "high-handed", she said Pakistan's regular and repeated transgressions of its obligations in this manner formed a consistent pattern and raiseed serious questions about its attitude and approach to its commitments under international and bilateral agreements, she said.
Indian mission staffers and their families have frequently borne the brunt of intimidation and harassment by Pakistani intelligence officials.
PTI
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