New Delhi: The Indian government on Thursday lodged a strong protest with Pakistan over seizure of its diplomatic property in Karachi which housed the Indian Consulate till it was shut a few years ago. This property belongs to India. In a Note Verbale issued on Thursday by India's External Affairs Ministry, Pakistan has been asked to clear the property of the squatters.
MEA summoned Pakistan's Deputy High Commissioner Syed Haider Shah today and conveyed that this was a serious matter and had to be addressed at the earliest. It also asked Pakistan to get the property vacated immediately.
Incidentally, the Note Verbale was given on a day when India cleared the Agreemo for the new Pakistani High Commissioner to India, Mueenul Haq.
Mr Haq replaces Mr Sohail Mahmood who is now the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan.
India's consulate in Karachi is a high-value property that has been a target of squatters and land mafia for a long time and has on earlier occasions too faced attempts of take over. The Consulate was closed down in 1992 followed the attack on Babri Masjid. It was later renovated but could not be reopened due to diplomatic reasons. The latest incident took place on Wednesday night when a group of men barged into the Indian Consulate property in Karachi by intimidating the guards posted for its security, and occupied it. The guards providing security to the Consulate are not armed. It is not clear whether the miscreants were armed or not. However, sources told Deccan Chronicle that the matter has been raised at the highest level in Islamabad too.
Sources in Pakistan government said that India's Note Verbale has been conveyed to Islamabad and "our people are looking in to the issue and trying to resolve it." They added that this was a "avoidable problem." The latest incident comes after Pakistani sleuths tried to spoil the Iftaar dinner hosted by Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria in Islamabad on June 2. Earlier, two Indian diplomats were locked up in a Gurudwara for close to 20 minutes. India had registered a strong protest on both these incidents too. It is learnt that on the issue of diplomats being locked up, Pakistan on June 17, shared with India, its report of the "inquiry", which India has rejected.
