Pakistan calls back envoy from India over ‘harassment incidents’

Islamabad: Pakistan has called back its High Commissioner in New Delhi, Sohail Mahmood, for consultation to Islamabad over incidents of “harassing” of its Embassy’s staff in the Indian capital, the Foreign Office stated on Thursday.
Speaking at his weekly press briefing, Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said they will hold consultations with the High Commissioner over “recent incidents of harassing of their diplomats”.
Faisal claimed that the Indian government had not taken measures to safeguard Pakistani diplomats and their families in India, adding that the Pakistani government lodged protests over the matter with the Indian deputy High Commissioner as well as India’s External Affairs Ministry.
The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement said its “staff and their families had been facing harassment, intimidation and outright violence from Indian state agencies in recent weeks in New Delhi”.
It claimed that its Deputy High Commissioner’s car was chased and his driver was abused by a group of men in the Indian capital last week.
Responding to complaints by Islamabad, New Delhi assured last week that “India makes all efforts to provide a safe and secure environment for diplomats to work in”. It added the Indian officials had also faced “harassment” last year in Pakistan but they chose to deal with it through “quiet and persistent diplomacy”.