Summary FO called the claim "utterly baseless media reports, maligning a female diplomat stationed in Dhaka"
DHAKA (AFP/Dunya News) - Pakistan on Wednesday recalled one of its diplomats from Dhaka after she was named as allegedly having financed a suspected extremist on trial for espionage, a Bangladesh official said.
“The female second secretary of the high commission was sent back to Islamabad this afternoon, two days after Dhaka informally asked for her departure,” said a senior official at the Bangladeshi foreign ministry.
Foreign Office (FO) has termed the allegations against the diplomat baseless. The office stated that she has been called back on request of Bangladesh authorities.
In a statement issued, the FO spokesperson said that Bangladesh s media leveled baseless allegations against Pakistan’s second secretary Farina Arshad.
The move comes after Idris Sheikh, a suspected member of the banned Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh, told a Dhaka court about his ties to Ms Arshad, saying he received funds of 30,000 taka ($380), according to police detectives.
After Sheikh’s claims against the diplomat were widely reported in the Bangladeshi media, the Pakistani mission issued a statement dismissing what it called “utterly baseless media reports... maligning a female diplomat stationed in Dhaka”.
Bangladesh’s Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan has said that the government would take action against Ms Arshad if the allegations against her were proved, local media said.
