India and Pakistan have taken an attempt to end the ongoing agitation over the harassment of their respective diplomats. They have finally agreed to talk and bring things to an end. The countries sought to end the diplomatic matter on the line of the 1992 ‘Code of Conduct for the treatment of diplomatic/consular personnel in India and Pakistan’.
Pakistan’s high commissioner Sohail Mahmood had initiated Pakistan over the alleged harassment and intimidation of Pakistani diplomats and their families in New Delhi. In Islamabad, he briefed his government over the same. India claimed that the Indian diplomats in Islamabad are not allowed to work. In addition, they are facing severe interference. The two sides also exchanged several instances of harassment on a daily basis.
What is the 1992 Code of Conduct?
The then foreign secretaries J N Dixit and Shaharyar M Khan signed the 1992 Code of Conduct . It lays down norms over and above the Vienna Convention and other global laws on diplomats. These include ensuring-
“the dignity and personal inviolability of diplomatic/ consular personnel… In particular, threat or recourse to physical violence against an official of the mission and his family shall not be resorted to under any pretext or circumstances.”