Harassment of diplomatic personnel: Pakistan, Afghanistan agreed to form technical body

Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to form a technical committee to look into the matter of harassment of Pakistani diplomatic personnel in the neighboring country, besides agreeing to maintaining close liaison and identifying steps to move forward on relevant issues.

Informed sources told Business Recorder that a Pakistan delegation including Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt Gen Faiz Hameed and Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood visited Kabul on Monday.

"The delegation had productive meetings with Afghanistan's National Security Adviser, DG NDS, and Acting Foreign Minister", said a diplomatic source, adding that recent developments including harassment of Pakistan's diplomatic personnel in Kabul were discussed.

He said that during the talks, it was agreed to form a technical committee to look into the matter with a view to immediately resolving it, adding that various aspects of Pakistan-Afghanistan bilateral relations came under discussion.

"Both sides agreed to maintain close liaison and communication and identify steps to move forward on relevant issues," he said, adding that it was also agreed to hold the next APAPPS [Afghanistan Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity] meeting in Kabul in December 2019, as decided earlier.

Kabir Hakmal, a spokesman for the Afghan National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib, stated in the statement in Kabul that the Afghan NSA met with DG ISI Lt Gen Faiz Hameed and Foreign Secretary. "They discussed efforts to normalize bilateral ties, formation of a technical committee to solve the problems and issue of Afghan Market in Peshawar", Hakmal added.

The visit of the DG ISI and foreign secretary to Kabul comes at a time when the two sides exchanged allegations of harassment of diplomatic staff at each other countries which resulted to a diplomatic row between the two neighboring countries when Kabul expressed 'deep concern' over 'summoning of the Afghan ambassador Atif Mashal to ISI headquarters'.

Sources said that Pakistani diplomatic personnel in Kabul and other consulates are facing serious security concerns over the continued harassment by the Afghan intelligence agencies personnel.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019