Islamabad police accused of violating Vienna Convention

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad police have been blamed for violating the Vienna Convention after it raided the Embassy of North Korea in the federal capital, it emerged Wednesday.In its letter to the Foreign Office and Islamabad's IGP, the embassy said the police entered the embassy premises at around 5 pm on March 7 from the backdoor and harassed the mission's personnel.

"The mission staff reminded them that premisesare the embassy exercising the inviolable sovereign territory of DPR Korea and asked them to immediately stop this brutal act against the embassy," the letter read. However, not paying heed to their request, the letter said that the policemen searched the storeroom in the backyard on the pretext of finding some items and threatened the mission staff with guns who tried to stop their acts.

The letter also stated that the policemen damaged the embassy's property.In response, the Foreign Office spokesperson said the Islamabad police have been informed that they did not have the authority to enter the embassy premises without permission. They have also been informed that they cannot do perform such a raid next time without having clearance from the Foreign Office, the spokesperson said. In recent days, the Islamabad police have been raiding different spots of the Federal Capital without prior permission from relevant authorities.