New Delhi has said that the Pakistan High Commission official was never arrested, but Islamabad claims he was.
New Delhi: A Pakistan High Commission official was briefly detained by police after an altercation with an Indian woman at a market in the national capital Saturday.
The Pakistani High Commission official detained, sources said, was the personal assistant of naval adviser Mohammmad Shoaib.
According to sources, the incident happened at Sarojini Nagar market, after the woman alleged “inappropriate touching”.
She complained to police, the Pakistan High Commission official apologised, and the matter was resolved Saturday night itself, the sources added.
“What we know so far is that an official of the Pakistan High Commission was involved in an altercation with an Indian national at a marketplace in the national capital,” a government source said.
“The Indian lady complained against him at a police station and took him there after the altercation. He apologised to the lady and was let off. There was no arrest,” the source added.
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Retaliation in the wings?
However, Pakistan government sources insisted that there was an arrest, and that they would take up the matter with the Ministry of External Affairs.
According to sources, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s outreach department, has told Pakistani journalists that “a junior official of the Pakistan High Commission (PHC) was kept under custody for four hours”.
“According to the PHC, the official was made to sign on blank paper and then released,” the sources quoted the ISPR as having said.
Given the alleged history of tit-for-tat harassment of officials at the neighbours’ diplomatic missions, it is feared that Pakistan will retaliate in Islamabad. The Pakistan Foreign Office is also expected to register a protest with Indian officials in Islamabad.
Indian diplomatic officials have reportedly continuously faced harassment in Pakistan.
According to sources, there were complaints last year about a deliberate attempt to delay gas connections, which made kitchens of Indian officials defunct, and Internet connections of many Indian diplomats being blocked.
Guests visiting diplomats are also said to face a “volley of hostile questions” from the Pakistan secret service agents posted outside the house of Indian officials.
According to sources, surveillance had increased as well, with diplomats followed “bumper to bumper”.
Also last year, officials from Pakistani agencies allegedly broke into a senior diplomat’s house. While nothing was stolen, there were clear signs of forced entry, a serious breach.
‘Intense harassment’
Similar allegations have also emerged from the Pakistan High Commission in India.
In March last year, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs put out a press release stating that officers, staff and families of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi had been facing “intense harassment, intimidation, and outright violence from Indian state agencies”.
The statement said there was an exponential increase in incidents of harassment, and listed several such incidents as “deliberate bullying”.
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