Three Pak high commission employees expelled

Pakistan8217;s Acting Deputy High Commissioner Jalil Abbas Jilani was summoned by the Ministry for External Affairs this afternoon and asked to withdraw Mohammad Khalil, Rana Mohammad Saghir and Mohammad Amin from India by February 25, a Ministry spokesman said.

He did not give any further details about the activities of the three Pakistanis, but Jilani alleged to The Indian Express that Khalil and Saghir had been picked up at a local market yesterday, interrogated and beaten up.

8220;Mohammed Saghir was beaten so badly that one of his eardrums has been damaged,8221; Jilani said, adding, 8220;and that has been confirmed by the Vasant Lok Hospital in Vasant Vihar where he was treated.8221;

Observers expect Islamabad to now expel a similar number of Indians from the High Comission in Pakistan, following up on the recent tit-for-tat expulsion of an Indian and a Pakistani staffer from their respective missions.

New Delhi has refused to undertake more drastic steps vis-a-vis Islamabad, including drastically curtailing its mission in Pakistan, arguing that it would be a 8220;symbolic step8221; that would not be of much use. Small expulsions of staffers continue to however take place.

In Islamabad, the Pakistan Government described the step as 8220;unjustifiable8221;. Foreign ministry spokesman Tariq Altaf said: 8220;It is unjustifiable, uncalled for and unwarranted.8221; Asked if Pakistan would now expel Indian diplomats, he said 8220;I would not like to speculate on that.8221;