In an apparent tit-for-tat, Pakistan placed retaliatory travel restrictions Friday on American diplomats and withdrew concessions it had granted to U.S. missions, dealing a major fresh blow to what has been described as "strayed" bilateral relations.
The decision comes after Washington said Pakistani diplomats would be required to seek permission five days in advance before traveling 40 kilometers from their posts in the United States.
A Foreign Ministry letter sent to the U.S. embassy in Islamabad noted that "reciprocal travel permission" was being put into place in Pakistan, without elaborating; however, U.S. embassy staff have complained lately that they undergo additional searches and questioning by intelligence officials when leaving the embassy compound.
The letter also confirmed that Pakistan “has been informed that the new travel permission regime for Pakistani diplomats and officials in the U.S. would be implemented from "11 May 2018.” The letter noted that diplomats posted to foreign missions in Pakistan do not require prior permission for traveling inside the country, with one exception.
The letter said permission is required if a visit is planned to “designated prohibited/restricted areas…in view of the security imperatives.”
Under the new restrictions, special treatment for U.S. embassy and consulate staff at the airports ends. Their cargo will have to be scanned upon arrival. The scanning is done at the airport to stop passengers from traveling with security- or intelligence-related gadgets.
A former Pakistani ambassador to Washington, Jalil Abbas Jilani, said in a tweet the restrictions are “a sign of strayed” relations and called on both countries to repair them.
“Restricting movements of Diplomats was a norm in Moscow and Islamabad during cold war and a regular practice between Pakistan and India even today but unheard of in the context of Pakistan and the US,” tweeted Jilani.
Pakistan's letter outlined the list of concessions it has withdrawn from the U.S. diplomatic mission. American diplomats, according to the list, will now require permission before “installing radio communication at residences and safe houses.”
The U.S. mission also has been instructed not to use “tinted glass” on vehicles and rented transportation and to stop installing non-diplomatic license plates on official vehicles. Diplomatic staff will no longer be allowed to use “biometrically unverified/cell phone SIMs.”
The disclosure of the unilateral concessions Pakistan had granted the U.S. after joining the war on terrorism 17 years ago are “shocking and scandalous,” say analysts.
“As Islamabad imposes tit-for-tat limits on U.S. embassy staff, the nation gets to know only some of the exemptions Americans were enjoying here,” noted Pakistani TV talk show host and columnist Talat Hussain.
The expanding war of restrictions on diplomats has become an “accidental nationalistic rallying point against perceived U.S. manipulation of Pakistan,” Hussain added.
Pakistan’s relations with the U.S. have consistently deteriorated since President Donald Trump announced a new South Asia strategy that blamed Islamabad for covertly supporting terrorist groups and the Taliban fighting local, as well as U.S.-led foreign forces, in neighboring Afghanistan.
Pakistani officials have rejected the charges and maintain that their country is being scapegoated for Washington’s security failures in Afghanistan.
Friday’s restrictions come as an American diplomat involved in a recent fatal road accident has been barred from leaving Pakistan until a court announces its verdict on how to hold him accountable in the wake of immunity he enjoys under international diplomatic conventions.
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