Pakistan, Sri Lanka to increase collaboration for regional peace

With Indian diplomats in Pakistan continuing to face harassment and intimidation, New Delhi on Thursday sent yet another note verbale to Islamabad seeking an investigation into all these incidents.

Habib, who has served in countries like China and North Korea, said the U.S. was not ready to leave Afghanistan for it gives them a strategic base to monitor foes like China, Russia and Iran besides Pakistan, indicating that things are not turning any easier to Pakistan's western borders. The document was signed by Sri Lankan High Commissioner and National Institute of Public Policy Dean Shahid Rahim Sheikh. He had gone there for an official meeting with a diplomat.

In a third incident, the Second Secretary (Political) was "aggressively followed and harassed by a person at the Street-1 Cafe within the Diplomatic Enclave" while going there for an official meeting with another diplomat, a source said.

Islamabad has also called its High Commissioner to India back home for consultations on the issue.

Relations between Pakistan and India are once again at very low point and quite tense as the Indian Government is continuing to indulge in all sorts of hostility including constant firing and killing of innocent, unarmed civilians along the LoC, threatening to even cross it and harassment of Pakistan High Commission staff members in New Delhi and elsewhere.

In a statement, the Pakistan high commission said, "In the regional context, high commissioner Sohail Mahmood underlined the importance of Pakistan's vision of "peaceful neighbourhood".

Earlier on March 19, two separate incidents of intimidation of four High Commission officials were reported by the sources.

The sources said India has asked the Pakistan Foreign Ministry to immediately investigate all the incidents and direct the relevant authorities to ensure that such incidents do not recur.