Washington DC, June 1: The United States has announced on Friday it has withdrawn its tax exemption scheme for diplomats from Pakistan, a move likely to rage the already strained relations between Washington and Islamabad.
According to ANI news reports, the US move comes a year after Washington blocked Pakistani envoys working in Washington DC, as well as, from travelling outside the radius of 25 kilometres of the city without any approval.
Notably, the US diplomats are yet to provide with tax exemption scheme working in Islamabad by the Pakistani authorities since they applied the facilities in the last year.
Diplomatic Tax Exemption Cards use to provide tax exemption from occupancy, sales and other taxes for the eligible international officials working in the USA and its territory.
The Pakistani embassy in the US had said on Thursday the two nations have been engaged with each other and discussing the matter, and were hoping to soon resolve the issue.
In an official statement, the Pakistani embassy said, “There are thus ongoing discussions between Pakistan and the US on the status of exemption/refunds on the basis of the principle of reciprocity, which should not be constructed as withdrawal of privileges.”
The diplomatic and bilateral relations between Pakistan and the US have been frosted since January last year when US President Donald Trump ceased annual security assistance worth $1.3 billion given to Pakistan.