Pakistan summons Bangladesh envoy in Islamabad
Pakistan has lodged a formal protest with Bangladesh over the recent detention of a Press Wing staffer of its embassy in Dhaka.
The additional foreign secretary of Pakistan summoned Bangladesh High Commissioner in Islamabad Suhrab Hossain on Monday afternoon and requested Dhaka to ensure due courtesies and privileges for all Pakistani diplomats and officials living in Bangladesh.
"Pakistan extends all due courtesies and privileges to the members of the diplomatic community stationed in Pakistan and expects Bangladesh to do the same," diplomatic sources quoted the Pakistani officials as saying in the meeting.
Though the Pakistani side raised the issue of its mission staffer's detention in Dhaka and termed it "illegal", it said Pakistan was positive about maintaining good relations with Bangladesh, according to diplomatic sources in Dhaka and Islamabad.
Suhrab Hossain, in his report sent to the foreign ministry in Dhaka following the meeting, stated the Pakistani officials were positive towards reducing the ongoing diplomatic tension between the two countries.
However, a senior foreign ministry official yesterday said that the summon of the Bangladesh high commissioner was "retaliation" to that of Pakistan High Commissioner in Dhaka Shuja Alam on February 2, a day after a staffer of the Bangladesh mission in Islamabad had been detained allegedly by plainclothesmen for nearly seven hours.
On the day, Dhaka handed over "a strongly worded note", protesting the February 1 detention of Jahangir Hossain, personal officer at the press wing of the Bangladesh High Commission in Islamabad.
It happened hours after Pakistan High Commission staffer Abrar Ahmed Khan was detained by police in Dhaka.
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