Sachin Parashar    

Was Stopped From Working At Indian Official’s Home By Pak

The current round of diplomatic hostility between India and Pakistan seems to have erupted after the Pakistani help of India’s defence attache in Islamabad was forced to stop working for him by local authorities.

Indian authorities saw this as violating the understanding reached in March that the two countries would follow the 1992 Code of Conduct meant to ensure “smooth and unhindered functioning of their diplomatic and consular officials in conformity with recognised norms of international law ”.

What provoked this action by Pakistani authorities is not known but it was reminiscent of

the incidents of harassment and intimidation of diplomats witnessed in both capitals in February and March.

This was followed by a spate of incidents both in New Delhi and Islamabad this month. While Pakistan alleged that one of its visiting woman diplomats was robbed of her handbag and that another diplomat had his car tailed and broken into, the Indian air adviser was detained at Islamabad airport for a while for not carrying his identity card. The identity card had expired and the diplomat was awaiting renewal by Pakistan.

According to Indian authorities, the cases brought to the government’s notice were of law and order nature and had nothing to do with harassment.

TOI also learnt that in April, a junior staffer had to be recalled to India after an aborted bid by ISI men to blackmail him into passing sensitive information to them.

Matters came to a head last week after Pakistan prevented Indian high commissioner Ajay Bisaria from entering Panja Sahib gurudwara at Hasan Abdal. India warned Pakistan against fanning secessionist sentiments, but Islamabad said that these pilgrims were protesting against Indian authorities.

India and Pakistan have had no substantive engagement for two years, except humanitarian issues, and things may remain the same until the outcome of polls in Pakistan. The report by the UN High Commissioner on alleged human rights violations in J&K has further vitiated relations with India.

Courtesy: Times Group: 30062018