Pakistan summons Bangladesh envoy twice

Islamabad yesterday summoned the Bangladesh high commissioner there twice to lodge protest against the recent “treatment meted out to its envoy” in Dhaka.

The development came a day after the Pakistan government withdrew Farina Arshad, second secretary (political) at the Pakistan high commission in Dhaka, in the wake of allegations of her involvement in terror financing.

A press release on the website of Pakistan foreign ministry said, “Miss Farina Arshad, second secretary at Pakistan high commission in Dhaka, was constantly being harassed by the Bangladeshi authorities.”

It said the Pakistan government twice summoned the high commissioner of Bangladesh, and registered a strong protest against the treatment meted out to Farina Arshad.

“Lately, an incessant and orchestrated media campaign was launched against her on spurious charges linking her with so called terrorists. Our high commission in Dhaka issued a strong rebuttal against the baseless and fabricated charges against the diplomat.

“Following this protest, it was decided to withdraw her. She has since returned back,” the press release said

The Pakistan envoy's withdrawal came upon informal communications from Bangladesh, after Idris Sheikh, an arrested operative of banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), told a Dhaka court on December 6 that he had links with her.

Arrested on November 29 in the capital, Idris told the court that he got a ride from the Pakistani diplomat in her car from Baitul Mukarram to Fakirerpool, and received Tk 30,000 from her.

Referring to Idris's judicial statement, an official of the Detective Branch of police said Idris had conversations with the diplomat several times over the mobile phones between June and July this year.

In the press release yesterday, the Pakistan government once again urged the Bangladesh government to demonstrate the spirit of reconciliation and forward looking approach enshrined in the 1974 Tripartite Agreement.