Pakistan on Thursday said the row with India over the alleged harassment of diplomats has been resolved through talks, reported PTI. “The issue of harassment of diplomats has been resolved through negotiations between foreign offices and diplomatic missions of both the countries,” said Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal. “It is a success of formal diplomacy.”
Faisal, however, did not provide any details about how the two sides addressed the matter.
In March, India and Pakistan both alleged that diplomatic staff at their respective High Commissions in Islamabad and New Delhi had been harassed. On March 13, the Pakistan High Commission circulated a video purportedly showing a slow-moving car blocking one of its diplomats’ vehicles in New Delhi. The High Commission claimed that Indian security services were behind the incident.
In all, Pakistan claimed there had been 26 instances of harassment of its diplomats since March 7 and, later that month, summoned High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood to Islamabad to discuss the matter. “I discussed this issue with our government,” Mahmood had said at the time. “We want to sort out this issue as soon as possible because it affects the relations between the countries.”
Around the same time, Indian authorities claimed that High Commissioner JP Singh’s doorbell was rung at 3 am in Islamabad. A few days later, the doorbell of Pakistani Deputy High Commissioner in Delhi, Syed Haider Shah, was also allegedly rung at 3 am.
Indian officials have claimed that the hostilities began after the Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence raided a residential complex being built for Indian diplomats in Islamabad on February 16.
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