Pak cracks down on 'armed' foreign diplomats

Islamabad, Oct.12 (ANI): The Pakistan Foreign Ministry has issued directives to the law-enforcement agencies to 'sternly' deal with the foreign diplomats who are caught possessing firearms.

The Foreign Office has also conveyed to all foreign missions in Islamabad that diplomats who are caught with arms would be treated according to the 'law of the land' and asked them to share the list of weapons they have.

It is worth mentioning here that in the recent past over a dozen foreign diplomats have been intercepted with arms, however, they were let-off due to the lack of a proper policy in this regard.

"There is always a possibility that an angry diplomat or a nervous cop could discharge his weapon," The Dawn quoted a senior police official, as saying.

Foreign diplomats maintain that they do not trust the capacity of Pakistani law enforcement agencies to protect them and that is the prime reason why they carry arms with them.

However, US officials believe that the issue is being blow out of proportion by certain quarters which are against Pakistan's efforts to develop closer ties with America.

"People are making it a much bigger issue than it is," said Bryan Hunt, US Consular for Political Affairs. (ANI)