Islamabad/New Delhi: Finally the two Indian High Commission officials in Pakistan who went missing and were reportedly arrested on Monday, were released by Pakistan authorities and returned to Indian mission at Islamabad.
Prior to this development, barely a few hours back, the Ministry of External Affairs had summoned Pakistan’s Charge d’affaires to India Syed Hyder in the national capital and made a strong demarche stating that its the responsibility of the Pakistan government to ensure the safety and security of Indian officials stationed there.
Sources said the demarche made it clear that there should be no interrogation or harassment of the Indian officials and the responsibility for the safety and security of the concerned diplomatic personnel lay squarely with the Pakistani authorities.
Sources in MEA said that Pakistan was asked to return the two officials along with the official car to the High Commission immediately.
Surprising after nearly eight hours the two Indian High Commission staffers who went missing, it was reported by a section of Pakistani media that the two officials were arrested for their alleged involvement in a ‘hit and run accident’.
The two staffers went missing at 8:30 am and since then were untraceable.
Both the Indian High Commission staffers were out on duty in Islamabad and did not reach their destination. Strangely, there was no information about the two till the evening even as the Indian government had taken up the matter with the concerned Pakistan authorities.