Islamabad – Pakistan Foreign Office has been very vocal after a controversial protest in front of its consulate in Bradford, the United Kingdom.
The acting head of mission of the UK was summoned in a meeting in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad on Friday and was presented with a formal diplomatic protest.
The action follows video recordings that were shared online of people uttering what the authorities called provocative and incisive remarks against the civil and military leadership of Pakistan.
The representatives of the government were deeply concerned that the British soil was being exploited to plan any activities that would destabilize a sovereign state.
Concerns Over Incitement and Threats
The crux of the matter concerns a video in which an actor purported to have made direct threats against the Chief of Defence Forces, Field Marshal Asim Munir.
The transcripts and footage have been shared with the British authorities, according to the confirmations of Ministers of State Talal Chaudhry and Bilal Azhar Kayani.
In this diplomatic protest, Pakistan highlighted that the language adopted was way beyond political activism.
According to the authorities, the appeal to the use of violence or the car bomb action is not a freedom of speech issue, but direct incitement to murder, and this goes against international law as well as the laws against terrorism in the UK itself.
Accountability and International Law
Pakistan has encouraged the United Kingdom to hold those behind this accountable in its legal system.
The letter submitted by the government to the authorities of the UK indicated that the social media accounts of the government were used to organize protesters and spread harmful rhetoric.
Such diplomatic protest points to a qualitative intensification of the use of foreign territory to incite unrest in Pakistan.
Minister Talal Chaudhry commented that asylum and residence are secured, but they do not provide anybody with immunity to encourage rebellion and the shedding of blood of any other nation outside domestic territory.
Seeking a Legal Resolution
The Pakistani government is turning to the British courts to seek a quick solution. Extradition of those who take part in anti-state propaganda has already been discussed by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, and the latest case has given a sense of urgency to their talks.
In filing a diplomatic protest, Pakistan would want such targeted and planned threats to be probed into.
Also See: Pakistan Demands Dissident Extradition from UK for Grooming Gang Repatriation
