Now Pakistan summons Bangladesh High Commissioner in tit-for-tat

In what was a clear act of reprisal, the Pakistani authorities summoned Bangladesh High Commissioner in Islamabad Suhrab Hossain on Monday.

A senior official at the foreign ministry confirmed to bdnews24.com that the high commissioner had been called to the Pakistan foreign ministry by the additional secretary in the afternoon.

The move was in protest against Dhaka’s summoning of Pakistan High Commissioner Shuja Alam recently, the official said.

Alam was summoned on Feb 2 after a Bangladesh mission staffer in Islamabad went missing for hours.

Jahangir Hossain, personal staff at the Bangladesh High Commission press wing, went missing on Feb 1 afternoon hours after a Pakistan High Commission official Abrar Ahmed Khan was detained by police in Dhaka.

Police claimed to have found Indian currency worth Rs 3,500 on Khan. He was later released and handed over to high commission officials in the evening. The Pakistan mission rejected the charge and condemned the incident.

Jahangir Hossain was also found unharmed hours later in Islamabad.

Both incidents have fuelled tension between the two countries, already compounded by Pakistan’s comments on the trials of the 1971 war criminals and alleged terrorist links of its officials.

Bangladesh High Commissioner in Islamabad Suhrab Hossain

Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan through a War of Liberation in 1971 and is now trying those Bangladeshis who were involved in crimes against humanity in collaboration with Pakistan’s forces.

In January last year, Mazhar Khan, a Pakistani official working in Pakistan’s mission in Dhaka, was expelled after Bangladesh intelligence accused him of funding Islamist radicals and peddling fake currency.

Pakistan also had to recall Fareena Arshad, its Second Secretary (Political) at the high commission, in December last year after the Detective Branch claimed to have ‘found evidence of her terror links’.

Pakistan then compelled Dhaka to recall a diplomat of the Bangladesh High Commission in Islamabad.

Demands for a snapping of ties with Pakistan have been growing in Bangladesh in light of such incidents.

But foreign minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali on Feb 2 told parliament that the government did not intend to sever ties with Pakistan at this stage.

Shuja Alam, the Pakistan High Commissioner, also said that Dhaka-Islamabad ties would continue as always and “I hope that relations will improve in the coming days”.