Islamabad violated Geneva convention

Dhaka has accused Islamabad of violating the Geneva convention by picking up an official of Bangladesh High Commission in Pakistan and detaining him for around seven hours on Monday.

The Pakistani plainclothesmen had forcibly picked up and detained Jahangir Hossain, a personal officer of the Bangladesh mission's Press Wing, the Bangladesh foreign ministry said in its protest note, handed over to Pakistan High Commissioner to Bangladesh Shuja Alam on Tuesday.

Citing the protest note, official sources said the Pakistani law enforcers, instead of giving security and protection to the High Commission official, "dangerously" harassed Jahangir, and they did not reveal their identity while detaining him.

They way the Pakistani plainclothesmen detained Jahangir Hossain is "very alarming and matter of grave concern", it said.

In contrast, the Bangladeshi law enforcers were in uniforms and jackets marked "DB" when they picked up Pakistan High Commission staffer Abrar Ahmed Khan in Dhaka. They also handed him over to the High Commission, unlike the Pakistani plainclothesmen who dropped Jahangir off at an unknown place, the protest note stated.

The foreign ministry also strongly condemned the Pakistan mission for issuing a press release even after Abrar Khan's release, and for bringing "gross allegations" against the Detective Branch (DB) personnel.

The allegation that the DB men had asked for Tk 5 crore from Abrar and threatened to kill him otherwise was a blatant lie and went beyond any decency, the protest note says.

It also criticised the Pakistan foreign ministry and other authorities for "failing" to give any clue when Jahangir went missing.

The Bangladesh foreign ministry is yet to issue any press statement on how the High Commission staffer was picked up and what the Pakistan government had said about the incident.