'Petty retaliation': After Op Sindoor blow, Pakistan blocks fuel and water supplies to Indian High Commission staff in Islamabad

File Photo - Pakistani security personnel stand guard at the diplomatic enclave near the Indian High Commission in Islamabad on April 24, 2025, during an anti-India protest.

Amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, Islamabad has introduced targeted restrictions on essential supplies for Indian High Commission staff -- a move described by top government sources as “deliberate, premeditated, and in breach of the Vienna Convention,” CNN-News18 reported.

The measures come in the wake of the Indian Army’s successful Operation Sindoor and New Delhi putting Indus Waters Treaty into abeyance. According to the report, the curbs are part of what officials call “petty retaliation” by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), aimed at making living and working conditions more difficult for Indian diplomats in Islamabad.

Sources told CNN-News18 that while Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) has already laid gas pipelines at the High Commission premises, supply has been deliberately withheld. Local gas cylinder vendors who previously supplied fuel for cooking and heating have also been instructed by Pakistani authorities not to sell to Indian staff, forcing diplomats and their families to seek scarce and costly alternatives in the open market — often without success.

The disruption extends to drinking water. The mission’s contracted supplier for clean, mineral water has been blocked from delivering, and all water vendors in Islamabad have been ordered not to provide supplies to the High Commission. With local tap water deemed unsafe without extensive filtration, the move has created serious inconvenience for staff and their families.

In another measure, newspaper vendors have been told to stop supplying publications to the mission entirely. Indian officials see this as a calculated attempt to cut diplomats off from print media, curbing regular access to local narratives and developments.

CNN-News18 quoted government sources saying that these actions flout the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which guarantees the smooth functioning of embassies and the safety and dignity of diplomatic personnel. They also warn that such steps further weaken the already strained India–Pakistan relationship.

Bilateral ties have been at a standstill since the 2019 Pulwama attack and the subsequent Balakot airstrikes. In recent months, tensions have intensified after Operation Sindoor — which, according to Indian officials, struck a major blow against Pakistan-based terrorists — and New Delhi’s assertive implementation of Indus Water Treaty provisions in its favour.