Against civilised behaviour, says India on Pak’s Iftar ‘intimidation’

Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria hosted the annual event on Saturday at Serena Hotel for which guests were invited from all over Pakistan. “The guests faced unprecedented harassment and intimidation at the hands of security agencies,” the Indian High Commission said in a statement. It said the guests who made to the venue from places as far as Lahore and Karachi were “intimidated and even physically stopped” from attending the party by Pakistani security forces, who had virtually laid the Serena hotel under siege.

“A concerted campaign was launched by Pakistan’s security agencies in the days preceding the iftar function to reach out to the invitees to actively dissuade them from attending the event,” it said. The High Commission said security officials stationed on the main road outside the hotel “rudely rebuffed and intimidated” officers and diplomatic staff of the IHC who tried to ascertain from the security personnel the reason for the harassment of the guests. “Some officials were jostled, pushed, abused and aggressively threatened with bodily harm. In some cases, mobile phone belonging to the officials were snatched away,” it said.

Many guests from the Pakistan’s diplomatic community were also subjected to harassment.

“In complete violation of diplomatic norms, a large Pakistani security detachment, equipped with forked lifts, was detailed outside Serena hotel to aggressively turn away Pakistani citizens,” the Indian mission said, adding that in some cases, cars used by guests were lifted and removed using forklifts.

Protesting the incident, the High Commission said the incident “not only violated the basic norms of diplomatic conduct but was against all norms of civilized behaviour...and entirely counter-productive for our bilateral relationship”.

“Unprecedented level of harassment at @serena_hotels Islamabad. #India embassy iftaar happening & police & anti terrorism force misbehaving with anyone trying into get in the hotel. Got screamed at, my driver abused. Sorry, not being an entitled prick. This was genuine harassment,” tweeted noted journalist Mehreen Zahra-Malik.

Senior Pakistan People’s Party leader Farhatullah Babar said every gaze deflected towards odd visitors in hotel’s lobby. “Came to Serena for iftar hosted by Indian HC. Hotel seems barricaded. Told that iftar cancelled. When insisted, I was told to use other gate. Other gate also closed and told to go back to front gate again. What’s going on, something fishy,” he tweeted.

High Commissioner Bisaria in his brief address to the audience said that some of the guests could not make to the party.

“I want to apologize because some of you faced a lot of trouble to come here and some of our friends could not come,” he said. Bisaria also said that people had come from Lahore and Karachi to attend the event and thanked them for coming.