NEW DELHI: The Indian government on Tuesday declared a Pakistani official at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi persona non grata for activities “not in keeping with their official status”. According to sources, the individual, a staffer, not an officer, has been ordered to leave India within 24 hours for being caught on charges of spying. “The Government of India has declared a Pakistani official, working at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, persona non grata for indulging in activities not in keeping with his official status in India. The official has been asked to leave India within 24 hours. Charge d’ Affaires, Pakistan High Commission, was issued a demarche to this effect today,” the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.Trade never discussed with the US; Indus Treaty remains in abeyanceEarlier, the Ministry had asserted that trade was never discussed with the US during Operation Sindoor and it was the might of the Indian armed forces that compelled Pakistan to seek a ceasefire.Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal was rebutting the claims made by American President Donald Trump that he had used the issue of trade as a leverage to broker ceasefire between India and Pakistan.Jaiswal also said that India will suspend the Indus Waters Treaty until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably ends its support for cross-border terrorism.”Now, as per the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) decision of 23 April, India will keep the Treaty in abeyance until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism. Please also note that climate change, demographic shifts and technological changes have created new realities on the ground,” he said.Jaiswal’s statement follows the recent ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan after Operation Sindoor, which had intensified military tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.”The Indus Waters Treaty was concluded in the spirit of goodwill and friendship as specified in the preamble of the treaty. However, Pakistan has held these principles in abeyance by its promotion of cross-border terrorism for decades,” Jaiswal said.This marks the first-ever suspension of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty — the World Bank-brokered water-sharing pact — in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives.
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