ISLAMABAD: The foreign office said on Tuesday it was “reprehensible” that the Afghan Consul General in Peshawar, Hafiz Mohibullah Shakir, had remained seated as the Pakistani national anthem was played at a conference in Peshawar, saying he had disrespected the patriotic song.
Videos widely circulated on social media on Tuesday showed Shakir attending the Rehmat-ul-Alameen Conference hosted by Ali Amin Gandapur, the chief minister of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. The event was held in the northwestern town of Peshawar to mark the occasion of Eid Milad-un-Nabi.
As the Pakistani national anthem was played and everyone in the room stood up in respect, Shakir and another Afghan colleague remained seated.
“The disrespect of host country’s national anthem is against diplomatic norms,” Foreign Office Spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a statement. “This act of Acting Consul General of Afghanistan is reprehensible. We are conveying our strong protest to the Afghan authorities both in Islamabad and Kabul.”
The Afghan government or consulate have not yet commented on the issue.
Traditionally tense relations between Islamabad and Kabul have soured further in recent months amid a surge in militancy in Pakistan that it blames on its neighbor.
Islamabad says militants mainly associated with the Pakistani Taliban group frequently launch attacks from hideouts in Afghanistan, targeting police and other security forces. Islamabad has even blamed Kabul’s Afghan Taliban rulers for facilitating anti-Pakistan militants. Kabul denies the charges.
Last week, CM Gandapur said he would hold direct talks with Kabul’s Taliban rulers to take action against Afghanistan-based militant groups.
