‘Harassment’ on Kabul streets: Hostile environs force Pakistani diplomats to live in Embassy

Some officials blame Afghan intelligence officials for the ‘organised campaign of harassment’

ISLAMABAD:

All diplomats in Pakistan’s mission in Kabul have abandoned their residences to live in the Embassy compound in the wake of growing incidents of ‘harassment’, The Express Tribune learnt from sources Sunday.

Dozens of staffers have joined Ambassador Syed Abrar Hussain and other diplomats to live in the Embassy compound, sources said. Afghanistan is a non-family station for Pakistani diplomats. “The Embassy has shared with Afghan officials all incidents [of harassment], including a recent attempt by unidentified men to kidnap a Pakistani Embassy official,” one source said.

Afghan government officials have assured the Pakistani mission and its staff of security, but they have been advised against venturing out of the compound until they witnessed ‘substantial improvement’ in the security situation. No Afghan official has visited the Embassy to personally reassure the ambassador and other diplomats.

The Afghan media, which routinely use reports from the Pakistani media, is apparently blacking out incidents of harassment of Pakistani diplomats. “The Pakistani diplomats are virtually like hostages as they have not ventured out of the Embassy compound for a week over serious security threats,” another source said.

Hostile and accusatory statements from Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Dr Abdullah Abdullah, Vice President General Rashid Dostam and the Afghan spy agency have forced Pakistani diplomats to restrict their movements. The Afghan leaders directly blamed Pakistan for the recent uptick in Taliban violence in Afghanistan, notwithstanding that Islamabad has condemned the terrorist attacks in the strongest terms.

The Pakistani diplomats and other staffers shifted to the Embassy compound when “unidentified people riding in cars chased the Embassy vehicles” during their movement between the Embassy and their residences, a third source said. “We will not move back to our residences as we don’t see any change in the hostile environment,” the source quoted an Embassy staffer as saying.

Some Pakistani officials believe the Afghan intelligence officials could be behind what they call an ‘organised campaign to harass everyone in Pakistani Embassy’s vehicles on the streets of Kabul.

Pakistan has less than 20 diplomats in Afghanistan while Afghanistan has nearly 55 diplomats in Islamabad and its consulates in Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 13st, 2015.