Pakistan has expressed the hope that the United Nations will consider listing three Indian nationals as terrorists in an objective and transparent manner.

In a statement issued by the Foreign Office on Wednesday, the Foreign Office spokesperson said that Pakistan had proposed the designation of four Indian nationals in 2019 under the United Nations 1267 Sanctions List, namely VenumadhavDongara, Ajoy Mistry, Gobinda Patnaik and Angara Appaji.

These individuals were financing, sponsoring and organizing terrorism inside Pakistan by providing financial, technical and material support to terrorist groups including TTP, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and others.

“We are disappointed that Pakistan’s proposal to designate Venumadhav Dongara as a terrorist has been objected to. Pakistan hopes that the listing requests of other three Indian nationals will be given due consideration by the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee in an objective and transparent manner.”

Taking advantage of the prolonged conflict in our neighbourhood, India has fomented terrorism inside Pakistan by providing training, financial and material support to terrorist groups to kill innocent people in Pakistan. These Indian nationals are now residing in India with impunity which vindicates Pakistan’s position that India is a state-sponsor of terrorism, the statement added.

On Tuesday last, Pakistan ordered India to cut its embassy staff in Islamabad by half, just hours after New Delhi announced a similar decision.

The reciprocal action came amid heightened tensions between the nuclear-armed South Asian rival countries over their long-running Kashmir dispute.

While the expulsion of diplomats is not uncommon due to the historically acrimonious relationship, the latest diplomatic dispute began late last month when India expelled two Pakistani officials for “espionage,” prompting Pakistan to do the same in response.

Islamabad quickly rejected and condemned what it said were baseless Indian allegations to seek a 50% reduction in the staff strength at the Pakistani embassy.

A Pakistani Foreign Ministry statement said the deputy chief of India’s diplomatic mission in Islamabad was summoned to the ministry to be informed of Pakistan’s decision to reduce the staff strength at the Indian High Commission by half “as a reciprocal measure” within a week.

“The latest Indian action is a part of India’s desperate attempts to divert attention from its state-terrorism and worst human rights violations in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” the Foreign Office statement asserted.