Movement of Pakistani diplomats in United States will be limited from May 1

The United States will place “reciprocal restrictions” on the movement of Pakistani diplomats in the country from May 1, forcing them to stay within 40km of the city they are posted in, a senior State Department official said on Tuesday.

In an interview with the Voice of America’s Uzbek service, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon said the United States was doing so because Islamabad had already imposed similar restrictions on US diplomats in Pakistan.
“Typically, these kinds of restrictions are reciprocal in nature, so I’ll just leave it at that,” said Mr Shannon when asked if the US government was going 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 of Pakistan.”
Mr Shannon tried to downplay the impact of the US decision by adding that such practices were “very common in diplomacy”, and instead of focusing on this the need was to look at continued engagement between the two countries.
“What’s important here, what’s important to note and underscore is that we’ve had some very fruitful conversations with the government of Pakistan about events inside of Afghanistan,” he said. “It’s my hope that we’re going to be able to build on those in a way that helps this broader reconciliation process.”
The Trump administration notified Pakistan recently that from May 1, diplomats at their embassy in Washington and at consulates in other cities would not be able to travel beyond 40km of their offices without permission.
According to this notification, diplomats would need to apply for permission at least five days ahead of an intended travel outside the imposed 40km radius.
US officials also reminded their Pakistani counterparts that Islamabad had already imposed similar restrictions on American diplomats in Pakistan, who were not allowed to visit the tribal belt or Karachi.
Pakistan, however, argues that those are not restrictions but security measures intended to protect American diplomats. They point out that the State Department too does not allow its diplomats in Pakistan to visit Fata, Karachi and certain other places in Pakistan out of security concerns.
In his interview to VOA, Mr Shannon also talked about the need for Pakistan to step up pressure on the militants who still had a presence in the country.