The Hindu : Mindless harassment

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 21, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

Mindless harassment

THE HARASSMENT OF the Charge d'Affaires at the High Commission of India in Islamabad, allegedly by personnel belonging to Pakistan's intelligence agencies, reprehensible even in normal circumstances is all the more condemnable when it has occurred in a situation in which the atmosphere between the two countries is already so poisonous. Pakistan's intelligence agencies have harassed personnel working in the Indian diplomatic missions in that country in the past and Indian agencies have behaved in an obnoxious manner with Pakistani diplomats posted here. When such incidents have occurred in the past, the rank of the diplomats concerned had not always granted them immunity from such transgressions. Yet, the victimisation of the senior-most Indian diplomat in Pakistan must be condemned in the strongest terms since the action taken against him comes across as a display of contempt towards the country he represents and is therefore a violation of the niceties that help maintain the contact between countries. With the current context being one in which the two countries continue to regard each other with great hostility, but yet see the wisdom in not resorting to the drastic action of totally rupturing diplomatic relations, it is all the more important to ensure that civilities are observed. Islamabad and New Delhi need to recognise — without pressure from, or persuasion by, powerful international forces — that the dangerous consequences of further instability in the region necessitate that they prevent the relationship from deteriorating any further. Both countries demean their standing by indulging in such barbaric behaviour and they strengthen misgivings felt elsewhere in the world that they are incapable of abiding by the norms of international discourse.

Whenever Indian or Pakistani security agencies have harassed the accredited representative of the other side in the past, they have usually tried to justify their action by alleging that the official concerned was indulging in activity not compatible with his diplomatic status (a euphemism for spying), but no such allegations appear to have been levelled in this instance. It hardly stands to reason that the High Commission of India would have concocted the story and therefore it is difficult to understand what those who authorised the harassment of the diplomat hoped to gain by blocking his vehicle or by delaying his arrival at a function held in the embassy of a third country. Islamabad is apparently annoyed because its senior-most representative in New Delhi has been recently subjected to the unwelcome attention of Indian intelligence agencies and, if so, the time has certainly come for the two Governments to break this pattern of treating each other's diplomats in such a despicable manner. Even in those cases where the personnel in the respective missions are believed to be involved in espionage, the appropriate action would be expulsion rather than their intimidation or the use of violence against them and their families. It needs to be remembered that even at the height of the Cold War, personnel at the U. S. Embassy in Moscow and their Soviet counterparts in Washington did not have to fear more than the embarrassment of an expulsion whereas there have been occasions when Indians or Pakistanis similarly situated have even had reason to fear bodily harm.

There exist a number of conventions and protocols that cover the minutiae of the treatment that a host Government has to provide to the accredited representatives of another. As if these had been found insufficient, Islamabad and New Delhi have bilaterally set down the rules that will govern their treatment of the other's diplomats. The shortfall is not in the lack of norms but in the determination to adhere to them. India and Pakistan have so locked themselves into a cycle of retribution that there is a near Pavlovian tendency to react in kind when such incidents occur. It is high time that this cycle was broken and for that to occur one or the other Government has to decide that it will not resort to uncivilised conduct, no matter the provocation.

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