Pakistan declares India ‘C’ class in diplomatic standardsBy Muhammad Saleh Zaafir

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has declared India as "C" class country for the diplomatic considerations. The decision has been taken in the wake of substandard living conditions and other hardships which are being faced generally by the aliens in that country.

India was previously placed under category "B" but after thorough study of the worsening living standards available in India, the status was further downgraded.

Highly placed diplomatic sources revealed to The News on Thursday here that the government of Pakistan had been constantly persuaded by the officials concerned to revise the status given to India but on every occasion the decision was kept deferred. Now that the conditions in India are getting further deteriorated from the living point of view and other related considerations, the government has been constrained to take the decision, the sources added.

If the situation is not improved and deterioration continued with current pace the status could be further downgraded. The foreign office will to notify its officials concerned about the decision in a day or two.

The sources disclosed that most of the African countries are diplomatically in "C" category and this status has been given not only by Pakistan but also by a large number of other countries. Pakistan has already placed Nepal, Myanmar, Vietnam, Sudan and some other countries under the "C" category. Some countries are also listed under the "D" category.

The United States, all the West European countries, Japan, China, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are among the "A" class category, the sources said. It is unlikely that Pakistan would reduce its diplomatic strength in India due to the reasons but the officials and diplomats would be asked to be more careful about their health needs and food while in India.

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