Islamabad: Pakistan has been accused of stooping as low as blocking essential supplies to Indian diplomats in Islamabad. This is in clear violation of the Geneva Convention.
According to CNN-News 18, supplies of basic amenities like cooking gas and drinking water have been cut off. Newspaper vendors have also been allegedly told by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), not to deliver to Indian diplomats.
Senior government sources have called the move “deliberate and premeditated,” and a clear violation of the Vienna Convention, which protects the work and dignity of diplomats, the channel has reported.
Officials believe that this is a ‘petty retaliation’ to the success of Operation Sindoor and the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). Such acts are aimed towards making life difficult for the Indian diplomats and their families.
Sources have said that although gas pipelines have been installed at the High Commission premises, the supply has been intentionally stopped. Vendors who earlier provided gas cylinders for cooking and heating have also been ordered not to sell to Indian staff. This has forced diplomats and their families to look for costly and limited options in the open market.
The price of a domestic LPG cylinder in Pakistan is nearly PKR 3,000. More than the price, it is the lack of availability that is affecting the diplomats.
The problem is not limited to fuel. The report has added that the High Commission’s regular supplier of clean drinking water has also been stopped from making deliveries. All water sellers in Islamabad have been told not to supply the Commission. Since tap water is unsafe to drink without heavy filtration, this has caused major problems.
Vendors have been told to stop delivering newspapers to the High Commission. Indian officials believe this is an attempt to cut diplomats off from print media and limit their access to local news and viewpoints, the report said.
While heightened surveillance on the activities of the Indian diplomats is understandable, officials say that the move to cut off essential supplies will only make the situation worse, so far as relations between the two countries are concerned.