US, UK asked to avoid posting Indian-origin diplomats to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: 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 said.

It said that 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.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri raised the issue with the heads of the US and the UK missions a few months ago, 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, 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 said.

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, and 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.

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.

Moreover 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.

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.