Pak denies visa to Indian diplomat Jayant Khobragade

Pakistan has denied visa to senior diplomat Jayant Khobragade who was set to be appointed as acting head of Indian High Commission in Islamabad, people conversant in the event said on Sunday.

It is learnt that Pakistan didn’t approve his visa on the grounds that he’s too senior for the post.
The people said Pakistan was conveyed by India in June about its move to send Khobragade as India’s deputy diplomat thereto country.

There was no official discuss the difficulty either by Pakistan or India.

Following India’s decision to withdraw special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August last year, Pakistan had downgraded diplomatic ties by expelling the Indian diplomat in Islamabad.

Pakistan also decided to not send the new envoy it had named to go its mission in New Delhi following India’s decision on Jammu and Kashmir.

Since then, both the Indian and Pakistani high commissions in Islamabad and New Delhi respectively are being headed by the deputy chiefs of mission of the 2 countries.

On August 5 last year, India announced its decision to withdraw special powers of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcate the state into two Union territories.

Since then Pakistan has been unsuccessfully trying to rally international support against India on the difficulty . The relations between India and Pakistan nosedived following the choice .

In June, India asked Pakistan to scale back the staff in its High Commission here by half and announced a reciprocal reduction in Indian strength in Islamabad.