Pakistan, India alternate barbs over ‘harassment of diplomats’

Islamabad – Pakistan’s international office has accused India of harassing and intimidating its diplomats and their families posted in Unique Delhi, in the most up-to-date escalation of tensions between the South Asian neighbours.

In a assertion launched dull on Tuesday, the international office acknowledged Pakistani officials and their families were coping with « intense harassment, intimidation and outright violence from the Indian enlighten agencies ».

India acknowledged it can well perchance investigate the allegations. Indian diplomats posted in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, supposed to Al Jazeera on Wednesday that they’d been coping with identical harassment for months.

Pakistan acknowledged a minimum of three of its diplomats, and several of their children, had been careworn in novel days.

« This deliberate bullying is now not confined to a single isolated tournament, however continues unabated in a series of incidents, critically concentrated on the children of our officers and workers, » acknowledged the Pakistani assertion, list a series of alleged incidents.

On Tuesday, Pakistan alleges that vehicles carrying the children of Pakistani diplomats were stopped and threatened by unidentified men on their formulation encourage from college.

The boys allegedly took pictures of the children and filmed their alternate with them. This followed identical incidents on March 7 and 8, the assertion acknowledged.

On March 9, Pakistan alleged that its naval adviser’s automobile used to be « aggressively chased », whereas its political counselor used to be « forcibly evicted from a cab » by unidentified men, who then threatened him.

Pakistan summoned the Indian deputy excessive commissioner to Pakistan to register a protest at the incidents, the international office acknowledged.

« Beneath the Vienna Convention, the safety and the safety of Pakistani diplomats and their families is the responsibility of the Indian Executive, » be taught the assertion.

« The final apathy and failure of the Indian Executive to attain a discontinuance to those detestable incidents, sparing now not even younger children, indicates both a shortage of ability to supply protection to international diplomats posted in India or a more reprehensible, complicit unwillingness to manufacture so. »

Indian allegations

India, nonetheless, acknowledged that its diplomats posted to Islamabad were coping with identical harassment.

« Cases of harassment and intimidation are usual for Indian diplomats in Islamabad. We now have seen a surge in the worthwhile one yr, » acknowledged an Indian international ministry legitimate, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The legitimate alleged that people of Pakistan’s Inter Services and products Intelligence (ISI) query company entered the Indian residential compound in Islamabad worthwhile month, « crossing a crimson line ».

« Aggressive surveillance, violation of bodily enlighten and tailing of officers in shut and unsafe proximity is a perennial effort, » acknowledged the legitimate. « [Intelligence agency] personnel retain taking pictures videos of the officers, thrusting phones on their faces. Grievous phone calls and messages are consistently bought on phones. »

In a single incident, the legitimate acknowledged, an Indian diplomat’s dwelling used to be broken into and his laptop stolen.

The South Asian neighbours, which have fought three wars since gaining independence from the British in 1947, continuously alternate tit-for-tat allegations of harassment and espionage in opposition to diplomats.

In October 2016, Pakistan expelled Indian diplomat Surjeet Singh, announcing he had violated the Vienna Convention and « established diplomatic norms ».

That followed a day after the detention and expulsion of a Pakistani diplomat by India on identical charges.

Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours were excessive for months, with India taking Pakistan to the Global Court docket of Justice worthwhile yr, alleging mistreatment of Kulbhashan Jadhev, an Indian citizen convicted by a Pakistani defense power court docket for spying and orchestrating attacks on Pakistani soil.

The two worldwide locations continuously alternate fire all the plot thru the de facto border in the disputed northern position of Kashmir, which both claim in rotund however administer separate parts of.

The shelling has killed several civilians on either aspect of the line of regulate since worthwhile yr.

There have, nonetheless, been minor eases in tensions, too, with Pakistan announcing earlier this month that it had well-liked an Indian proposal to facilitate but any other of female civilian prisoners, as neatly as prisoners who were mentally challenged, had particular wants, or were above 70 years of age.

Asad Hashim is Al Jazeera’s Web Correspondent in Pakistan. He tweets @AsadHashim