After India declared a Pakistani official in New Delhi ‘persona non grata’, Pakistan also declared a staff member of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad ‘persona non grata’, citing involvement in activities incompatible with their official status.
Pakistan also asked the Indian staff to leave the country within 24 hours.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a post on X, wrote, “… The government of Pakistan has declared a staff member of the Indian High Commission, Islamabad, as persona non grata for engaging in activities incompatible with his privileged status. The concerned official has been directed to leave Pakistan within 24 hours.”
“The Indian Charge d’Affaires was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today for demarche, conveying the decision,” the post added.
Pakistan’s tit-for-tat move
The decision comes after the Government of India on Tuesday declared a Pakistani official at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi ‘persona non grata’ for engaging in activities incompatible with his diplomatic status. The official was also asked to leave the country within 24 hours.
An official statement from the Ministry of External Affairs stated, “The Government of India has declared a Pakistani official, working at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, persona non grata for indulging in activities not in keeping with his official status in India.”
“The official has been asked to leave India within 24 hours. Charge d’ Affaires, Pakistan High Commission, was issued a demarche to this effect today.”
The development comes a few days after India and Pakistan engaged in a military conflict following New Delhi’s Operation Sindoor to eliminate terrorists and terror infrastructure across the border in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Operation Sindoor was conducted in retaliation for the killings of 26 persons in Baisaran Valley of Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. On May 10, India and Pakistan agreed to halt all fire.
India-Pakistan diplomatic ties
Earlier on April 23, after the Pahalgam terror attack, India had summoned Pakistan’s top diplomat, Saad Ahmad Warraich, to Delhi and handed over a formal “persona non grata” note for Pakistan’s military diplomats.
Persona non grata is a Latin term meaning “unwelcome person.” In everyday use, it refers to someone who is no longer accepted or welcome within a specific group, setting, or country.
In international diplomacy, declaring someone persona non grata is a formal way for a country to expel a foreign official, typically for actions deemed inappropriate or hostile to the host nation’s interests.
Last time, India declared the Defence/Military, Naval and Air Advisors in the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi as persona non grata, Pakistan had also retaliated by declaring India’s top military attaches in Islamabad as ‘persona non grata’.
