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The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has asked the Finance Ministry to address some of the concerns raised by the diplomatic corps following the government’s demonetisation drive.
The dean of diplomatic corps, representing foreign envoys based in India, held a meeting earlier this week, post which it has approached the MEA on how to address some of the concerns related to higher level of funds in the missions, depositing the consular and visa fees and funding of the currency changing associations.
“We have received three or four types of request on the issue of demonetisation which pertains to the MEA. The dean of diplomatic corps has held a meeting and brought these issues to us,” Vikas Swarup, spokesperson, MEA told reporters here on Thursday during an official briefing.
Swarup also said that the Ministry of Finance has formed an inter-ministerial committee, which is headed by an additional secretary, to recommend on how to address the issues of diplomats.
Heart of Asia Conference
Meanwhile, Swarup said it is awaiting a response from the Pakistani government whether Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Advisor on Foreign Affairs, will be attending the Heart of Asia conference that is scheduled to be held on December 3-4.
However, he said the government on Wednesday had made a demarche to a senior official of the Pakistan High Commission on the continued violation of ceasefire along the Line of Control.
This was the third such demarche this month on the issue.
“We conveyed that despite calls for restraint, Pakistan forces have committed twelve ceasefire violations between November 9 and 15, 2016 during which Pakistan Army deliberately resorted to calibre escalation by employing Artillery and 120 Millimetre Heavy Mortars against Indian posts. These violent acts constitute a clear violation of the Ceasefire Agreement of 2003,” Swarup said.
He added that the government has also strongly condemned increase in concentration of terrorists observed across the Line of Control in the vicinity of Pakistani forward posts.
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