By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: India and Pakistan expelled diplomats from each other’s high commissions on Tuesday, accusing them of espionage in an escalation that imperils a fragile US-brokered ceasefire after recent military clashes.
India sparked the dispute, declaring a Pakistani official at its New Delhi High Commission persona non grata for activities “not in keeping with his official status,” according to the Ministry of External Affairs. The official was ordered to leave within 24 hours.
The action followed Sunday’s arrest of two individuals in Indian Punjab, accused by police of leaking sensitive military data to a suspected Pakistani handler. One suspect allegedly relayed Indian Army movements under the direction of an official linked to Pakistan’s Delhi mission.
Pakistan retaliated that evening, expelling Indian High Commission official Shankar Reddy Chintala for “espionage in violation of his privileged status,” the Foreign Office said. Chintala and his family were given 24 hours to depart. Pakistan summoned India’s chargé d’affaires, delivering a demarche protesting “undesirable activities” and urging India’s mission to respect diplomatic norms.
The expulsions follow a week of intense hostilities between the nuclear-armed neighbors. On May 7, India launched what it called “preemptive” strikes on alleged militant bases in Pakistan’s Punjab province, prompting Pakistan to retaliate. Pakistan said it downed five Indian jets, including French-made Rafale fighters.
The violence, the most intense in over two decades, killed dozens and targeted military and civilian structures on both sides of the border before a ceasefire, mediated by US officials, took effect on Saturday.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President J.D. Vance engaged both nations’ leaders to halt the fighting, with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar confirming Washington acted as the sole intermediary amid a total breakdown in direct India-Pakistan communication.
In his first remarks since the truce, Dar told CNN that Pakistan never contemplated nuclear escalation, despite the crisis’s severity. “We were very sure that our conventional capacity and capabilities are strong enough that we will beat them both in air and on ground,” he said, dismissing India’s strikes as a “wishful attempt to establish its hegemony” in Kashmir.
The cease-fire has so far halted the violence. But leaders on both sides framed the truce as a tactical pause rather than a resolution.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking Monday, cast the ceasefire as a mere pause in hostilities. “We have only paused our responsive attack on Pakistan’s terror and military hubs,” he declared, promising a “jaw-breaking response” to future provocations.
Modi accused Pakistan of seeking a truce after being “completely destroyed” militarily—a charge Dar rebutted, asserting that India had “seen what happened in the sky” and recognised Pakistan’s resolve.
At the core of the conflict lies Kashmir, a Himalayan territory split between India and Pakistan since 1947 and claimed by both in its entirety.
Dar labeled it “the root cause of regional instability,” renewing Pakistan’s call for Kashmiri “self-determination”—a stance India flatly rejects. Tensions spiked in April after a massacre of tourists in occupied Kashmir, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants. Dar denied involvement. “We condemn terrorism in all forms,” and pointed to U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent social media comments on resolving the dispute as a hopeful sign.
Even as violence eases, a fresh crisis is brewing over water resources. Dar warned that India’s reported diversion of water from Kashmir’s Chenab River via the Baglihar Dam — a lifeline for Pakistan’s agriculture — could rupture the truce. “Failure to resolve the water issue will amount to an act of war,” he said, urging reversal of the measure.
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