Islamabad protests ‘harassment’ of guests in New Delhi

Claims Indian security forces barricaded the HC from all sides shortly before Iftar

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Monday lodged a strong protest against the alleged harassment of guests that were invited for Iftar by Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi last week.
The High Commission had hosted Iftar on May 28.

According to a letter by the FO, the Indian security agencies barricaded the High Commission from all sides shortly before Iftar and visitors were subjected to strict security checks.

After security checking, the letter said guests’ pictures were also taken and they were harassed, while Kashmiri-Muslim guests were threatened with arrests.
“The same method was applied on an event hosted on March 22,” stated the letter, further condemning “these dirty Indian tactics in the holy month of Ramazan”, while also calling it a violation of the Vienna Convention.

The FO has demanded assurance from India that such incidents will not happen in the future.

On Sunday, Indian diplomats in Islamabad complained that Pakistan security officials had allegedly hassled guests invited to Iftar at a top hotel.

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“Guests faced unprecedented harassment and intimidation at the hands of security agencies,” the Indian High Commission said in a statement.

It said security officials had carried out a “concerted campaign” in the days leading up to the event to try to dissuade invited guests from attending an Iftar, at the hotel.

The high commission said more than 300 guests were turned away, including parliamentarians, diplomats, business people and members of the media.

“We have requested the government of Pakistan to urgently investigate these ugly events and share the results of the exercise with the High Commission of India,” it added.