India on Monday lashed out at Pakistan for unilaterally stopping postal service between the two countries, with Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad saying that Islamabad’s decision violated Universal Postal Union norms, PTI reported.

The minister said the services were stopped two months back without any notice or information. “Pakistan is Pakistan,” Prasad told reporters, adding that Indian authorities were thinking about taking action against Islamabad.

Pakistan stopped accepting consignments from India after August 27, forcing India to put mail for the neighbouring nation “on hold”, The Indian Express reported. Director of Postal Services (Mail and Business Development), Delhi, RV Chaudhary said this was the first time Islamabad had taken such a step.

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India has 28 foreign post offices, out of which only Delhi and Mumbai handle mails to and from Pakistan. “Most of the postal mails to Pakistan are dispatched by this office and a majority of them are from Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir,” said Delhi Foreign Post Office Superintendent Satish Kumar. “It is mostly academic and literary material.”

While Pakistan’s media liaison to India Khwaja Maaz Tariq said he was not aware of the matter, Indians spoke out their inability to contact their relatives in the neighbouring country. Nazar Husain, whose sister lives in Karachi, said he used the postal service to send sponsor letters for visas. Although he emails the letters to his sister, authorities sometimes ask for the original letter, Husain added.

RV Chaudhary said his department had informed the Ministry of Communications, and asked booking of consignments to Pakistan could be temporarily suspended. The postal official said his office had not received any instructions yet, adding that it would take time as other ministries would have to be consulted.

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