Pak calls back envoy to India

NEW DELHI: In a tit-for-tat action, Pakistan on Monday called back its high commissioner from India for “consultations” amid heightened bilateral tensions after the Pulwama terror attack, days after New Delhi asked its envoy in Islamabad to return.

“We have called back our high commissioner in India for con- sultations. He left New Delhi this morning,” Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mohammad Faisal tweeted.

The February 14 attack in Pulwama district was claimed by the Pakistan-based outfit Jaishe-mohammed (JEM).

On Friday, New Delhi had summoned the Pakistan High Commissioner and lodged “a very strong demarche” or diplomatic protest over the bombing.

Indian foreign secretary Vijay Keshav Gokhale told him that Pakistan must take immediate and verifiable action against the JEM and that it must immediately stop any groups or individuals associated with terrorism and operating from Pakistan.

India also withdrew the Most Favoured Nation status to Pakistan and also slapped a 200 per cent import duty on all goods originating from Islamabad.

PTI Flames rise from the house where two alleged masterminds of the suicide car bomb attack were said to be hiding, during an encounter with the forces, in Pinglan area of Pulwama district.