Pakistan expels Bangladeshi envoy as ‘spy’ row escalates

Bangladeshi diplomat, Maushumi Rahman, is leaving Islamabad to Lisbon on Thursday, as Pakistan has asked Dhaka to withdraw her in response of taking back its “terror-linked” diplomat Fareena Arshad.

A Foreign Ministry official had told the agency that Bangladesh was uncomfortable with Hossain as he was staying in Dhaka, forcing a junior female diplomat (Moshumi Rahman) to shoulder the task of the envoy during the “crisis period” and he went back to Islamabad “when all the major difficulties were over”.

Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque said Pakistan had on Tuesday asked Dhaka to recall senior diplomat Moushumi Raham back home from its high commission in Islamabad within 48 hours.

“There was no explanation from Islamabad”, said Alam. Pakistan Foreign Office summoned Bangladesh High Commissioner yesterday to inform about Moushumi Rahman’s deportation.

Idris Sheikh, a suspected member of the banned Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh, told a Dhaka court last month that he received 30,000 taka from Pakistani diplomat Farina Arshad, according to police detectives.

The secretary did not offer any reason for Pakistan’s decision to expel the diplomat, but experts believe it was a retaliatory move.

At the time, Pakistan’s foreign ministry expressed “deep concern and anguish” at the executions, describing the trials of those involved in alleged atrocities during the 1971 war as “flawed”. Four opposition politicians, including three leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, have been convicted by a war crimes tribunal and executed since late 2013.