Pakistan's envoy returns to India amid harassment complaints

NEW DELHI: Pakistan High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood returned to India Thursday night to host the celebrations of Pakistan Day being mark today (March 23).

The Minister of State for External Affairs, M J Akhbar was invited as Chief Guest to the ceremony. It is reported that some other minister of the same rank would stand in place of Mr. Akhbar if he fails to make it to the gathering.

Mahmood was called back to Pakistan on March 15 after Pakistani diplomats stationed in India claimed that there had been as many as 26 events where they witnessed harassment and intimidation.

When Pakistan registered its protest, India also issued a notice saying that several Indian officials were aggressively tailed by Pakistan authorities in Islamabad.

Pakistan has for the first time accused India of harassing diplomats’ children and believes the nature and scale of intimidation this time is vastly different from what has been seen earlier.

India has continued to maintain that at no stage did it plan to recall its high commissioner Ajay Bisaria. As both countries issue one note v after another, India and Pakistan are clearly facing one of the worst crises to have hit bilateral ties in recent times.