Author:
Publication: Rediff.com
Date: November 9, 2006
URL: http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/nov/09pak1.htm?q=tp&file=.htm
Irked by the posting of several Indian-origin
diplomats by the United States and Britain in their embassies in this country,
Pakistan has reportedly asked Washington and London to avoid appointing such
officials to "sensitive posts".
"There is a major concern in the official
quarters in Islamabad over the appointment of growing number of diplomats
of Indian origin to sensitive positions at the US embassy and to a lesser
degree at the British High Commission in Islamabad," Pakistani officials
were quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.
It said the officials were not "hesitant"
to acknowledge that the issue of posting Indian-origin diplomats has emerged
as an "irritant" and "friendly discussions" were underway
to resolve it "amicably".
"It is work in progress and they have
taken note of our concerns," it said quoting the officials. Pakistan
Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri raised the issue with the heads of the US
and the UK missions a few months ago, the daily said, adding there have been
discussions on this at the diplomatic level in Washington and London.
"While Pakistan is aware that it cannot
dictate the personnel policies of other countries, it is trying to sensitise
them to its legitimate concerns," it said.
When asked for her reaction to the report,
Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said she has to "check"
whether the issue has been taken up with the countries. India does not permit
officials of Pakistani origin to serve in any of the foreign missions in India,
where as Pakistan has been accepting officials of Indian origin to serve in
foreign missions in Islamabad, she told PTI in Islamabad.
Asked whether Pakistan now wanted to apply
the principle of reciprocity with the foreign missions on this issue, Aslam
declined to comment. At present there are around five American diplomats of
Indian origin in the US embassy in key positions including an Attache, a first
secretary and a third secretary, besides an officer whose wife is of Indian
origin.
There are a couple of such officials in the
British High Commission, including an Attache. Earlier there were more, the
newspaper said adding that "in the age of multi-culturalism more of such
diplomatic appointments may be inevitable in the long run".
There are Indian-origin diplomats in African
embassies and the Mauritian mission in Pakistan.
The reason for the two countries to post Indian-origin
diplomats was "regional considerations" like easy communication
skills due to familiarity of language and partly due to international community's
keenness to see a coming together of Pakistan and India besides the "Indian
keenness" to be in Pakistan, it said.
The newspaper said "alarm bells"
first rang at the Pakistan foreign ministry when it received visa requests
for American diplomats of Indian origin for the consular section and assignments
in sensitive positions that would involve work in the public domain.
It became an issue when the government resisted
a couple of such appointments and did not clear the visa requests. Apparently
the visa process was unusually delayed to indicate Islamabad's reluctance
in a few cases. In some cases the missions had to eventually review their
decisions.
Pakistan's main reservation is appointment
of diplomats of Indian-origin to political posts or in positions entailing
public dealing like the visa section, the daily said adding "It does
not seem to have problems with Indian-origin diplomats occupying administrative
or commercial slots".
Pakistan's worry is that it could give them
access to places, confidential documents, agreements and information about
bilateral cooperation that would be a "no-go areas" for the Indians,
it said.
Also, since diplomats of Indian origin and
those having spouses of Indian origin would have more social interaction with
officials of the Indian mission, they could wittingly or unwittingly divulge
sensitive information, for instance classified information relating to war
on terrorism, security and defence cooperation, it added.
