India protests harassment of its diplomats in Pakistan

Smita Sharma 

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 14

India, through its High Commission in Islamabad, issued a note verbale to the Pakistan Foreign Ministry to protest harassment of Indian diplomats and officials serving at the mission in Islamabad. Sources said the protest note was issued on January 10. 

Among other issues, the note objected to "attempts to hack the Facebook accounts of two officers and close-watching and aggressive surveillance of the Indian High Commissioner and Deputy High Commissioner while attending a wedding at Serena Hotel in Islamabad on December 4."

The identity of relatives of two Indian officials were reportedly cloned by Pakistani hackers in an attempt to hack accounts. Diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan have soured again over the past few months with aggressive tailing and surveillance methods reportedly being pressed even against India’s envoy in Pakistan.

Sources said for the past nearly five months, there had been simmering tension over a non-functional gas pipeline. The Indian mission is waiting for the pipeline to be functional despite a contract being signed with agency Sui in 2015. “Architects and consultants are not being allowed by Pakistani authorities to come inside the new compound. The Indian officials there are without their families ...  These obstructions are against diplomatic norms,” said a source.