New Delhi: The Foreign Ministry of India had complained to the Pakistan government today about the incidents in which some of the Indian High Commission officials were followed and abused during their shopping in Islamabad’s main business district.

 

This is second incident of such a kind for Indian diplomats living there in which they were intimidated and harassed over the last three days, Foreign Ministry sources said in New Delhi.

Among many of such incidents, an Indian diplomat and his family were on their way to a restaurant in Pakistan when they were chased by motorbike borne two men on Thursday of this week, which was just hours after India termed “harassment the new normal for Indian High Commission personnel in Islamabad”.

“We have asked the Pakistan Government to investigate these incidents,” government sources said after New Delhi on Saturday issued a note verbale to Pakistan about the harassment of Indian officials.

Sources also said that this was 12th such diplomatic communication from New Delhi to Pakistan over the same subject this year which suggests that Indian diplomats too had been regularly complaining about harassment by security agencies in the recent past.

In an attempt to embarass New Delhi, Pakistan went public with all the complaints by New Delhi about its diplomatic missions and staff being harrased without leaving the family members of them in the national capital. In light of recent incidents, the Pakistan’s foreign ministry announced that it will call back High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood for consultations.

The Indian Foreign Ministry ignored the calling back of envoy, citing the reason that such practice is not uncommon for any country.

However, New Delhi stressed that Pakistani official are not the only ones complaining.

Indian officials preferred to manage the situation by being quiet and using persistent diplomacy instead of flagging all the matter in the media.

The tit for tat action had already started in May of last year when Pakistan started intermittently “blocking Indian government websites in Pakistan” including the one used to receive and process visas over the internet.

Among many problems the Indian diplomats faced in Islamabad were that their power supply and gas was being shut to the residential complex

Then there were complaints that power supply and gas was being shut to a residential complex in Islamabad for Indian diplomats, followed by door bells being rung late at night.

For these problems to be solved, India Foreign Ministry needs to use tactical diplomacy. Instead of just using the complain mode, it needs to use active diplomacy. More involvement of senior officials from our side can talk to the high command concerned there in Pakistan. Further they need to pressurize them using third channels among its partners.