U.S. Government to Restrict Movement of Pakistani Diplomats in the States

The United States government has confirmed that it will place "reciprocal restrictions" on the movement of Pakistani diplomats in the country from May 1, forcing them to stay within 40 kms of the city they are posted in, according to media reports. This decision by the American government came after Pakistan imposed restrictions on American diplomats in the country which bars them from visiting the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa tribal belt and Karachi. Pakistani officials, however, have argued that these restrictions were security measures intended to protect American diplomats.

In an interview with the Voice of America's Uzbek service, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon said, "Typically, these kinds of restrictions are reciprocal in nature, so I'll just leave it at that." He was asked if the U.S. government was going to restrict the movement of Pakistani diplomats in the country. Shannon tried to downplay the impact of the U.S. decision by adding that such practices were 'very common in diplomacy', and instead of focusing on this the need was to look at continued engagement between the two countries. “What’s important here, what’s important to note and underscore is that we’ve had some very fruitful conversations with the government of Pakistan about events inside of Afghanistan,” he said. “It’s my hope that we’re going to be able to build on those in a way that helps this broader reconciliation process,” said Shannon, the Dawn reported.

According to the notification by the U.S. government, diplomats would need to apply for permission at least five days ahead of an intended travel outside the imposed 40km radius.

This “reciprocal restriction” is one in a series of actions that show the low-point of the Pakistan-U.S. bilateral relationship. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly chided the Pakistani establishment and said that Islamabad has played a two-faced game by taking American money while supporting Taliban leaders that U.S. forces in Afghanistan are fighting against. This year also saw U.S. freeze almost all of its military aid to Pakistan which has pushed the relationship to a new low.

Officials from both the countries, the U.S. and Pakistan, however, have said that the notice had nothing to do with the case of an American defence attache at the U.S. embassy in Islamabad, who is charged with causing the death of a Pakistani national and injuring another in a road accident.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 20, 2018 08:31 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).