ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office said on Thursday that the Bang­ladeshi government had been asked to clarify the harassment of the staff of Pakistan International Airlines in Dhaka and undue search of one aircraft.

“Our High Commission in Dhaka has taken up the matter with the Bangladesh Foreign Office. We await their explanation and response. This indeed is an unfortunate development,” FO Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said at the weekly media briefing.

Bangladesh had last month expelled one of the Pakistani diplomats on allegations of being involved in terrorist financing and currency forgery.

According to reports from Dhaka, the residence of PIA’s manager in Bangladesh, Ali Abbas, was searched a few days ago and his family members were being harassed.

Bangladeshi authorities say they suspected Mr Abbas’s involvement in smuggling of gold and currencies.

One of the flights from Karachi was searched for a couple of hours.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2015

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