Daily Times

A large crowd of angry Afghan nationals pelting stones, pulling down Pakistan’s flag and vandalising the property of its consulate in Frankfurt on Sunday bore a harrowing resemblance to a 2003 ransacking of the country’s embassy in Kabul.

Both episodes saw mobs of protestors start as peaceful demonstrations but quickly undermine diplomatic norms and permission protocols to breach consulate premises. Since the attack happened in Germany, well-known for placing a high value on discipline and civic order, two accused have already been detained while video corroboration is underway to identify other participants. Still, the failure of the authorities to protect the sanctity of Pakistan’s consular Mission and ensure the security of its diplomatic staff drew a strongly worded condemnation from the Foreign Office, which reminded the German government of its responsibilities as the host country under the Vienna Convention 1963.

On the surface, the demonstrators had gathered against the death of Pashtun nationalist poet Gilaman Wazir in Islamabad earlier this month, for which a case was registered at the local police station. However, ransacking the official representation of a sovereign country thousands of miles outside its boundaries gives a whiff of an underlying agenda. After all, if Kabul’s seat of governance is as firm and popular as it proclaims, it should have used the diplomatic channel to air any concerns against the investigation or the fact that no arrests had yet been made (something Pakistan should also address on an immediate basis). To put things in perspective, Sharjah’s ugly bout of violence where Afghan spectators – furious at a last-minute defeat in 2022’s Asia Cup – had indulged in verbal abuse, uprooting seats and throwing them at the Pakistani fans is still etched fresh in the collective conscience as a clear-cut expression of hostility.

Despite Pak-Afghan relations hitting rock bottom in the wake of a surge in militant attacks, largely facilitated by Kabul’s sheltering of TTP militants, Islamabad firmly stands on using direct and official communication and has not orchestrated any such pressure tactics. What transpired on Sunday feeds well into an established narrative about enemies of enemies joining hands in a convenient alliance to leave no stone unturned to destabilise our security and integrity. Perhaps, the next time the interim government in Kabul decides to come out with all guns blazing, its sympathisers could remind it of instances that reveal a lot about the weaknesses of the power structure on which they are sitting. *