The Pakistani and Indian consular services at Mumbai and Karachi will start functioning at the turn of the year, Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran told a news briefing here on Monday afternoon.
He said the Indian offices were being renovated and refurbished at Karachi, while the Maharashtra government has given a plot of land to Pakistan for building its diplomatic mission.
This sufficiently indicated that New Delhi had finally declined the Islamabad request that it should be given the possession of the Malabar Hill house built by Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah that was taken over by the Indian government after independence.
Shyam Saran said the 17-man Indian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Natwar Singh is leaving for Karachi on Tuesday evening, and will visit the building that had housed their Deputy High Commission before the two countries shut down their satellite missions in the heat of antagonism some years ago.
To be more specific, Shyam Saran told another questioner that he expected the two missions to open their counters for consular services sometime in early January.
The statement also indicated that pending the construction of its own building at Mumbai, Pakistani consular missions would work from a rented building.
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