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6 times since 2014: Timeline of summoning of Pak high commissioner by Modi government

WION
New Delhi, Delhi, IndiaWritten By: Sidhant SibalUpdated: Jan 31, 2019, 11:54 AM IST
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Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi. (Image source: ANI (L)/Reuters (R)) Photograph:(Others)

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Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale summoned Pakistan high commissioner Sohail Mahmood on Wednesday night.

Summoning of an Ambassador or a high commissioner of a country by the foreign secretary is considered the strongest "diplomatic" protest a country does. 

The Pakistan high commissioner Sohail Mahmood was summoned at 10.30 pm on Wednesday night shows New Delhi has taken the Foreign Minister Qureshi's call to Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq very seriously and is miffed with Islamabad.

In all, including the summoning on Wednesday, a Pakistani high commissioner has been summoned six times under the Narendra Modi govt since it took charge in 2014.

While 2018 saw no summoning, the last time New Delhi Summoned a Pakistan high commissioner was on April 10 2017. Back then, the then, high commissioner Abdul Basit was summoned and handed over a demarche following Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistan Army media wing press release on awarding death sentence to Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav.

Date Reason
December 24, 2014 The release of Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, a prime accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
August 16, 2015 Unprovoked firing by Pakistan troops in Poonch
August 9, 2015 Arrest of Pakistan national with LeT links in J&K 
September 21, 2016 Uri attack: Pak envoy summoned, told about evidence recovered
April 10, 2017 Pakistan army court sentences Kulbhushan Jadhav to death
January 30, 2018 Pakistan Foreign Minister Qureshi dials Hurriyat chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq 

Pakistan high commissioner Basit was summoned two times in 2016, once in September following the Uri Attack and once in August following the arrest of Pakistani national Bahadur Ali in J&K who had confessed with linkages with Lashkar-e-Taiba. 

According to a ministry of external affairs release back then, "Bahadur Ali has confessed to our authorities that after training in Lashkar-e-Taiba camps, he was infiltrated into India"

In 2015, the Pakistan high commissioner was summoned once in August to the following firing from Pakistani side in Poonch in which Indian civil population was being targeted when the situation LoC had rapidly deteriorated. 

The first time a Pakistan high commissioner was summoned under Modi govt was on December 29, 2014, following the release of Zakir Ur Rehman Lakhvi, one of the key planner behind the 26/11 attacks.