Children of envoy 'harassed': Pak summons India Deputy High Commissioner
The Pak high commission alleged that the children were harassed and blocked by Indian authorities while on way to school.
Islamabad/New Delhi: Pakistan has summoned India's Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh over the alleged harassment of officials and families of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, according to Pakistan Foreign Affairs Ministry.
Pakistan also accused the Indian officials of intimidating the children of a senior diplomat while they were on their way to school.
The Pakistan high commission alleged that the children were harassed and blocked by Indian authorities while they were on their way to the British School, according to a report in The Times of India.
It said the counsellor's car with his children onboard was hit from behind by another car occupied by Indian authorities.
Singh was summoned after Pakistani newspaper Dawn quoted Pakistani officials of accusing India of harassing its diplomats and their families in the country and threatened to pull out the families if the intimidation did not stop.
He was summoned by Director General (South Asia & SAARC) Mohammad Faisal and a strong protest was lodged at the "maltreatment being meted out to the officials and families of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi", according to a statement by the Office of Spokesperson of Pakistan Foreign Affairs Ministry here.
Faisal emphasised that under the Vienna Convention, the safety and the security of Pakistani diplomats and their families is the responsibility of the Indian Government.
In reply, government sources in New Delhi said that Indian deplomats in Islamabad were being regularly tailed and intimidated.
"It's a normal affair for an Indian diplomat to get blocked in the middle of the road," a source was quoted as saying by TOI.
Sources in New Delhi said India has repeatedly requested Pakistan to mutually ensure that High Commissions are allowed to do their job in an atmosphere free of harassment and intimidation, that staff be allowed to work and that construction projects get completed on time.
Sources in India also said that on February 16, the Indian High Commissioner met the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan to lodge a strong protest against multiple acts of hooliganism against Indian properties and personnel.