Pakistan High Commissioner to India Called Back for ‘Consultations’ Amid Tensions Over Pulwama Attack

New Delhi: Pakistan has called back its High Commissioner to India amid escalating tensions over the Pulwama terror attack.

“We have called back our High Commissioner in India for consultations. He left New Delhi this morning," Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal tweeted on Monday.

Pakistan High Commissioner to India Sohail Mahmood was on Friday summoned in New Delhi by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale who lodged a strong protest over the killing of 40 CRPF soldiers in Pulwama.

Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria was also called to New Delhi for consultations in the wake of the attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

Interestingly, United States ambassador to Pakistan Paul Jones on Friday called on Pakistan foreign secretary Tehmina Janjua to convey the US side on the Kashmir attack. A report in Dawn quoted a foreign office source saying that the US embassy had sought the meeting. The US had on Friday asked Pakistan to freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets of the UNSC-designated terrorist networks and their leaders.

It also said it fully supports actions to prevent the outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammed from conducting future attacks. A State Department spokesperson told PTI, "Pakistan outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammed in 2002. However, the group still operates in Pakistan. The US designated JeM as a foreign terrorist organization in December 2001, and we fully support actions to prevent them from conducting future attacks."