Pakistan's Warning:
On April 22, Pakistan threatened India with “serious consequences” if there was any delay in getting the premises of its former Deputy High Commission in Calcutta cleared of its “illegal occupants”.
The Joint Secretary in the External Affairs Ministry, Mr. A. K. Ray, had carlier told the Pakistan High Commissioner, Mr. Sajjad Hyder that the dispute with regard to the possession of the premises was an internal matter of Pakistan and the laws of the land prevented the Government of India from using force in such matters.
The following day (April 23), Mr. Hyder protested to the Ministry of External Affairs against unprovoked and violent demonstrations” in Calcutta against the newly appointed Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner. Mr. Mahdi Masud.
Mr. Hyder handed over to Mr. A.K. Ray an aide memoire on the subject which he later released to the Press. It declared that “the local authorities in Calcutta failed to act in time; otherwise yesterday’s ugly scenes need not have taken place at all.”
The aide memoire also protested against the refusal of India to evict “anti-State elements” from the premises of the Deputy High Commission. Referring to the Indian suggestion that Pakistan should seek legal redress; the aide memoire stated that “the Ministry of External Affairs could not be unaware that under established diplomatic conventions, a foreign mission does not go to a court of law. It is the duty of the host Government to ensure the inviolability of premises and personnel of a diplomatic mission accredited to it”.
Later, an External Affairs spokesman said that it was an act of diplomatic discourtesy for Mr. Hyder to have released the aide memoire to the Press.
When asked about the threat of “serious consequences” by Pakistan if India did not at once hand over the Calcutta mission building to Mr. Masud, the spokesman said that India treated such threats “with contempt.”
Two More Diplomats Granted Asylum:
On April 20, two East Bengali diplomats of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi sought asylum in India and the request was immediately granted.
The diplomats-Second Secretary, Mr. K. M. Shahabuddin (30) and the Assistant Press Attaché, Mr. Arnjadul Haque (33)-decided to break with the Islamabad regime in view of the West Pakistan Army’s massacre of the people of Bangladesh. They announced their decision at a hurriedly called mid night news conference to which Indian and foreign newsmen were summoned from their beds.
Mr. Shahabuddin entered the Pakistan Foreign Service in 1966 and served in Nepal for a short while. He was then posted to New Delhi and had been there since January, 1967.
