Pakistan denies reports of Frankfurt Consulate attack suspects being handed over

The spokesperson for the Foreign Office has dismissed as "fake news" the social media reports claiming that the suspects involved in the attack on the Pakistani Consulate in Frankfurt, Germany, have been handed over to Pakistan.

According to the 24NewsHD TV channel, on July 20, during a protest by Afghan demonstrators in Frankfurt, some miscreants attacked the Pakistani Consulate.

As per the report, German police arrested two suspects involved in the incident.

Following the attack, on July 21, Pakistan summoned the German Ambassador to Pakistan, Alfred Grannas, to lodge a protest.

The channel reported that a protest note was also handed over to the ambassador.

Pakistan has demanded that Germany ensure the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for the attack.

The German government has assured Pakistan of the protection of its diplomatic staff and property, including embassies and consulates.

Over the issue of Afghan citizens' attack on consulate on July 20, Pakistan's Foreign Office (FO) issued a statement on July 21 and said under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963, it was the duty of a host country to protect foreign countries’ embassies and consulates. "We not only demand the government of Germany to hold those resonsible for the attack accountable, but also identify the security personnel whose negligence emboldened the miscreants."

"Yesterday's incident was not only a breach of the consulate's security, but it also put the lives of the staff at risk." 

Urging the German government to ensure the safety of the consulate’s staff, the FO spokesperson said that Pakistan was lodging its strong protest with Germany on the incident.

On the other hand, denouncing the attack on the country’s consulate in Frankfurt, Pakistan’s embassy in Berlin on Sunday demanded the German authorities take legal action against the perpetrators of the crime.

The embassy officials said that following the incident they were in touch with the German government so that such an incident did not recur.

At the same time, the officials asked Pakistanis living in the country to stay calm and peaceful. Yesterday, eight to 10 Afghan citizens protested outside Pakistan’s consulate in Frankfurt.

Despite the fact that the police had asked them to restrict themselves only to the venue of the protest, they threw stones at the building and even tried to remove Pakistan’s flag hoisted atop of it, prompting Islamabad to push Berlin to launch an investigation.

Seeing that the situation was getting out of control, the authorities called in additional contingent of the police to tame the protestors. Two of the protestors, both Afghan nationals, were arrested immediately.

The government said that more arrests were likely since the police were trying to identify the culprits with the help of videos.

The latter assured that an investigation would be conducted to identify those responsible.

Reporter: Anwar Abbas