After Islamabad placed travel curbs on American diplomats in Pakistan

Pakistan diplomats in the United States will be under “reciprocal restrictions” on their travel, a senior State Department official said.

Pakistani diplomats may be forced to stay within 40 km of the city they are posted in, from May 1, according to earlier media reports. The official did not elaborate on the forthcoming move.

In an interview with the Voice of America’s Uzbek service, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon said the U.S was reciprocating the travel restrictions on American diplomats in Pakistan, placed by Islamabad recently.

‘It is reciprocal’

“Typically, these kinds of restrictions are reciprocal in nature, so I’ll just leave it at that,” Mr. Shannon said, 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 official said: “Our diplomats are under travel restrictions. They can travel further, but they have to notify the government of Pakistan.”