India-Pakistan diplomats' row: Help of defence attache caught in fresh spat

After weeks of lull, there seems to be a new twist to the India-Pakistan diplomats' row. And this time the Pakistani help of India's defence attache in Islamabad has been caught up in the spat.

It is being said that the help of India's defence attache was forced to stop working for the official by a few local authorities. While it is not known why the authorities took such a step, India has taken up the matter with Pakistan and has said that this is in violation to the agreement that the neighbours reached in March to follow the 1992 Code of Conduct, reported the Times of India.

Through the agreement, India and Pakistan intended to ensure "smooth and unhindered functioning of their diplomatic and consular officials in conformity with recognised norms of international law and practice."

The report comes days after Pakistan prevented Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria and a few other officials from entering the Gurudwara Panja Sahib at Hasan Abdal. Not just that, the team was also not permitted to meet Indian pilgrims and when India protested the move, Pakistan said that the pilgrims were against the Indian officials and did not want to meet them.

Even though a major diplomatic crisis hasn't been witnessed since March, TOI reported that there was an incident in April when a junior staff member had to be brought back to India after ISI agents tried to blackmail him into giving them sensitive information on India.

These incidents come after the row that made headlines in March. India, on March 18, had given a note verbale to Pakistan protesting against the "intimidation and harassment" of its staff in the country. The note mentioned that some officials of the Indian mission had gone for shopping to the Blue Area in Islamabad, where they were harassed and followed by two people.

Indian had also said that the said people abused the officials and asked the Pakistani government to investigate the matter. It also mentioned another incident when another mission official and his family were harassed and followed while they were on the way to a restaurant, reported the Press Trust of India.

The two nations then traded quite a few barbs, with Pakistan also alleging that its diplomats posted in New Delhi were badgered and intimidated. The foreign office said that Pakistani officials and their families were facing "intense harassment, intimidation and outright violence from the Indian state agencies."

While India said that it would investigate these allegations, Islamabad went on to add that this was "deliberate bullying."

"This deliberate bullying is not confined to a single isolated event, but continues unabated in a series of incidents, especially targeting the children of our officers and staff," Al Jazeera quoted the statement as saying.

After all the mudslinging, the two countries, on March 30, finally agreed to resolve the issues and said that they would work together to maintain a calm and friendly atmosphere for diplomats in Islamabad, as well as, New Delhi.