India says diplomat abducted in Pakistan
India today claimed that one of its diplomatic staff has been abducted in Islamabad by Pakistani intelligence personnel, apparently in retaliation for the arrest of a Pakistani diplomat earlier in the week.
The staffer, identified only as Khana, was picked up outside his home in the Pakistani capital’s diplomatic enclave when he was coming to the office this morning, said Indian High Commission spokesman Rahul Rasgotra. He said a complaint was immediately lodged with the Pakistani Foreign Ministry.
Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman, Aziz Ahmed Khan, said he had no knowledge of the incident.
No other details were immediately available.
The two countries regularly accuse each other’s diplomats of spying charges and expel them. It is also not unusual for them to accuse one another of abducting embassy staffers.
On Wednesday, Pakistan accused India of abducting and torturing one of its diplomats, Ali Abbas, in New Delhi.
Indian External Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao acknowledged that Abbas was in Indian custody on a spying charge, but denied he had been ‘‘abducted’’ and said there had been ‘‘no maltreatment’’.
Tensions between the two nuclear nations have escalated since a December 13 attack on the Indian Parliament, which India blamed on Pakistan-based Islamic militant groups and Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence. The Pakistan government and the rebel groups have denied the charge.
Since then, the two countries have amassed more than one million troops along their shared border.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947.
