WASHINGTON: The United States will place reciprocal restrictions onPakistani diplomats in the country from May 1, forcing them to stay within40km of the city they are posted in, a senior State Department officialsaid on Tuesday.
In an interview with the Voice of America’s Uzbek service, Under Secretaryof State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon said the United States wasdoing so because Islamabad had already imposed similar restrictions on USdiplomats in Pakistan.
“Typically, these kinds of restrictions are reciprocal in nature, so I’lljust leave it at that,” said Mr Shannon when asked if the US government wasgoing to restrict the movement of Pakistani diplomats in the country.
Asked if the Trump administration had notified the Pakistani government,the senior US official said: “Our diplomats are under travel restrictions.They can travel further, but they have to notify the government ofPakistan.”
Mr Shannon tried to downplay the impact of the US decision by adding thatsuch practices were “very common in diplomacy”, and instead of focusing onthis the need was to look at continued engagement between the two countries.
“What’s important here, what’s important to note and underscore is thatwe’ve had some very fruitful conversations with the government of Pakistanabout events inside of Afghanistan,” he said. “It’s my hope that we’regoing to be able to build on those in a way that helps this broaderreconciliation process.”
The Trump administration notified Pakistan recently that from May 1,diplomats at their embassy in Washington and at consulates in other citieswould not be able to travel beyond 40km of their offices without permission.