Pulwama attack: Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, Ajay Bisaria called to Delhi

New Delhi: In the wake of Pulwama terror attack, India has called its High Commissioner in Islamabad Ajay Bisaria to New Delhi for immediate consultations, sources said.

Bisaria will be here for consultations Saturday, the sources told ANI.

The Indian envoy has been called for consultations at a time when the government is looking at options for giving a befitting reply to Pakistan over the dastardly terror attack in Pulwama in Kashmir Thursday, in which around 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

The development came hours after the angry government decided to withdraw the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status granted unilaterally to Pakistan while asserting that there is “incontrovertible evidence” about Pakistan’s direct hand in the gruesome terror attack.

India will also make all possible efforts to ensure “complete isolation” of Pakistan in the international community and work for early adoption of the long-pending Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT), which is pending before the United Nations.

The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where the situation in the wake of Thursday’s terror attack was assessed, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters here.

"Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan stands withdrawn," Jaitley said after the meeting which was also attended by Home Minister, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

India had granted MFN status to Pakistan in 1996, a year after the formation of World Trade Organisation (WTO), but Pakistan never accorded the same status to India.

Under the international trade rules, MFN is a treatment accorded to a trade partner to ensure non-discriminatory trade between two countries.

Briefing on the other decisions of the CCS, Jaitley said, "the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) will initiate all possible diplomatic steps, which have to be taken, to ensure complete isolation from the international community of Pakistan, of which incontrovertible evidence is available of having a direct hand in this gruesome attack.”
The MEA will also engage with international community to see that the CCIT proposal, which has been pending, is adopted at the earliest.

He noted that the CCIT proposal, moved by India, has been pending because of differences over the definition of ‘terrorism’.

A CRPF convoy, while moving from Jammu to Srinagar, was attacked by a suicide bomber in Lethpora area on the national highway at around 3.15 pm Thursday.

Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack.