File Photo. Timothy A. Clary—AFP
The two men were involved in a hit-and-run incident in federal capital
The Islamabad Police on Monday issued a statement clarifying that they had released two Indian High Commission officials who had been taken into custody over a hit-and-run incident in the federal capital.
The police said both officials were released due to their diplomatic immunity, adding that they had been freed in the presence of officials from Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry.
The two officials were taken into custody, and a case filed against them, after their vehicle ran over and critically injured a man and then attempted to flee the site of the accident. The charges against them were negligence, reckless driving, and over-speeding. The First Information Report also claimed that Rs. 10,000 in counterfeit currency was recovered from the Indian diplomats. It identified the two officials as Paul Selvadhas, who was driving the car, and Dwimu Brahma.
According to eyewitnesses, a BMW hit a pedestrian walking on Embassy Road at around 8 a.m. on Monday morning and then attempted to flee the scene. They said the car had been over-speeding and had rammed into the victim while he was walking on a footpath. The critically injured pedestrian has been shifted to hospital for treatment.
While they were under arrest, the Indian High Commission claimed the two “had gone missing,” with Indian media alleging this was a tit-for-tat move to the detention and expulsion of two Pakistan High Commission staffers by India on May 31. Islamabad had condemned the move, declaring it part of a “persistent anti-Pakistan propaganda.”
Delhi increased police deployment outside the Pakistan High Commission while the situation was unfolding, while Charge d’Affaires Syed Haider Shah was summoned to India’s External Affairs Ministry and served a demarche on the detention of the two employees. The Pakistani diplomat, according to Indian media, was asked to ensure the safety and security of the personnel. He was also told to ensure Pakistani law enforcement agencies did not interrogate them.
Ties between Pakistan and India have continued to deteriorate since February 2019, when India staged an airstrike inside Pakistani territory, ostensibly in retaliation to a Feb. 14, 2019, suicide bombing on a convoy of military vehicles in India-held Kashmir by a local separatist. The two countries were on the brink of war before calmer heads prevailed and a détente was established. The ties have since grown even worse following India’s revocation of the special constitutional status of Kashmir.