Pakistan gives a clear message to US over bilateral ties in future
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ISLAMABAD - Pakistani authorities have sent a clear message to US either in case of diplomatic restrictions or the point of US top diplomatic release. In all cases relations with US would be on reciprocal basis and all per laws of Pakistan.
Pakistan barred a US diplomat involved in a fatal traffic accident from leaving the country, forcing an American military aircraft flown in for his departure to leave without him, local media reported on Saturday.
The move came a day after Pakistan said it would restrict the movements of all American diplomats in the country in response to Washington's similar restrictions on Pakistani embassy diplomats.
A spokesman for the US embassy in Islamabad declined to comment on either development in the uneasy alliance with Pakistan.
The country is a crucial link to supplying American troops fighting the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan. But Washington has long believed it actually shelters the Taliban's leaders, and President Donald Trump has cut off military aid in an effort to pressure Pakistan.
The latest blow to relations came on Saturday, when Pakistani authorities banned a US military attache from leaving as planned.
A day earlier, an Islamabad court had ruled his diplomatic immunity may not apply in the April 7 traffic accident in which the US attache's vehicle hit a motorcycle, killing the 22-year-old driver, both papers reported.
As a result, a US Air Force C130 flown in to Pakistan's Nur Khan air base outside Islamabad was forced to leave without him on Friday.
Separately, Pakistan's foreign ministry said it would apply travel restrictions to all US diplomatic staff similar to those applied by Washington, according to a notification sent to the US Embassy on Friday and obtained by Reuters.
The new US rules require diplomats to obtain permission to travel more than 40 kilometers (25 miles) from their stations, the local Dawn newspaper reported
