Daughters of Indian mission staffer `molested’ in Islamabad

The incident has sparked off yet another diplomatic row, with High Commissioner Vijay Nambiar meeting the Pakistani foreign secretary in Islamabad today. Back in New Delhi, Pakistan’s deputy high commissioner to India was summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs for an explanation.

Both were told that New Delhi took the “gravest view” of the incident. Nambiar said the government expected that the “perpetrator of this heinous crime, irrespective of his identity, be arrested, prosecuted and punished according to the law.” An FIR has been lodged with the police in Islamabad.

Pakistani officials too expressed regret over this “reprehensible act,” an official MEA release said today. However, an MEA spokesperson said the role of the authorities in Islamabad was “extremely questionable”. “There is little room for doubt that the intelligence officials of Pakistan, who were keeping surveillance over the house, did nothing to prevent the incident.” Since the intruder arrived at a time when the parents were out, the spokesperson said, it appeared that the crime was premeditated.

Incidents of harassment and humiliation against staff and diplomats in the Indian mission in Islamabad — and earlier Karachi — are common. Some years ago, an Indian diplomat was beaten up so badly that his bones and ribs broke, and he was brought to India on a stretcher. In another incident five years ago, the wife of an Indian staffer was beaten up.