Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'India and Pakistan should respect each other' that was published in Newsband

India and Pakistan should respect each other

New Delhi and Islamabad harass each other’s envoys. There is an urgent need for India and Pakistan to address allegations of harassment of each other’s diplomats and interference in High Commission work.

The treatment of diplomatic officials by both sides has dropped to new lows. Personnel are being targeted on the road, with cars stopped and drivers intimidated. Other instances on both sides include obscene phone calls, stoppage of milk and newspaper delivery to diplomats, and even 3 a.m. doorbell rings.

It is unfortunate that things have come to such a pass. They constitute technical violations of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) and the subsequent Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (1963), which clearly state that a diplomatic agent’s person, premises and property are inviolable and must be respected and protected by the “receiving state”.

Already bilateral dialogue has been stalled for years, and ceasefire violations are becoming the norm on the Line of Control. There is need for cooler counsel to prevail.

Both India and Pakistan are awaiting general elections​. Skirmishes along the border, cross border violations and ill treatment of diplomats will be encouraged to escalate to arouse pseudo patriotic sentiments​ to gain political mileage.

The Government cannot deal with this Diplomatic dispute in the routine manner like it deals with a Political dispute with an Opposition Party , by providing facts that would prove that the other Party is / was at fault. A War would hurt India more than it would Pakistan. Till recently, India has always been the more restrained party in every tense situation with Pakistan. However, there has been a flurry of "We know how to retaliate" Hawkish warnings from the Defence Ministry of late - and regrettably, from the Army too, though the Army do as the Government tells it to do.

Both countries by trading charges are not only intent on promoting political hostilities but also creating tension among people. This conflict may not serve any valid purpose in future.

There is urgent need to observe the Vienna Convention regulations in the treatment of diplomatic missions in both the countries. But if we leaf through the history of our diplomatic staff stationed in Pakistan, we could not miss the fact that it was always Pakistan which started this kind of trouble causing lot of inconvenience and trouble to our diplomatic staff in service there.

The Saffron government in Delhi wants to pay back Pakistan in its own coins. Pakistan staff in Delhi is now tasting how it would be if they are also shadowed and roughed up the way they do to our staff.

The cessation of diplomatic and cross border hostilities are in the interest of people of both the nations. The sad part of this whole episode is that each one is blaming other and no one is ready to take an iota of responsibility. Diplomatic missions offer a window of dialogue even when every other window is closed. Both countries should adhere to international conventions and treat each other's diplomats with dignity and respect