India, May 13 -- The Government of India on Tuesday declared a Pakistani official posted at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi as persona non grata for engaging in activities inconsistent with his diplomatic role.

He has been instructed to leave the country within 24 hours.

A formal demarche conveying this decision was issued to the Charge d'Affaires of the Pakistan High Commission.

The decision comes at a time of heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, following days of cross-border strikes triggered by India's launch of Operation Sindoor.

The operation targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan as a response to the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, which claimed 26 lives - most of them tourists, ...