Pakistan’s ‘Hurmat-e-Parcham’ Campaign in response to Extremist’s Attack on Pak Consulate in Frankfurt

By Sajjad Shaukat

The federal cabinet on July 25, this year launched “Huramat-e-Parcham Campaign” in reaction to the attack by the extremists on the Pak consulate and removal of the national flag in Frankfurt, Germany.

In this regard, the federal ministers released their pictures along with the Pakistani flag on social media.

The federal ministers also wrote messages of love and affection for the national flag on the social media platforms.

Minister for Information, Broadcasting, National Heritage and Culture Attaullah Tarar appealed to political activists, journalists, intellectuals, teachers, lawyers, doctors, farmers, labourers, students, businessmen, patriotic Pakistanis abroad and Pakistani youth to be a part of the “Huramat-e-Parcham Campaign”. He said that flag of Pakistan was a symbol of national identity and sovereignty which represented the unity and solidarity of the nation.

Terming the sanctity of national flag as a national responsibility, he added it was the duty of every Pakistani to follow it—the coming month August was the month of Pakistan’s independence, and the “Hurmat-e-Percham” Campaign” would be continued.

In fact, social media video on July 20, 2024 showed scores of people holding the tricolor Afghan national flag and jumping the fence to get into the consulate building in Frankfurt, with one of them taking down Pakistan’s flag. The protesters were reportedly shouting abuses and pelted the diplomatic facility with stones, causing outrage on social media.

In this respect, Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) on July 21, 2024 strongly condemned an attack “by a gang of extremists” a day earlier on the Pakistani consulate in Frankfurt, and also criticised German authorities for their failure to protect the premises of its consular mission, saying: “In yesterday’s incident, the security of Pakistan’s consulate in Frankfurt was breached, endangering the lives of its consular staff.

The FO reminded the German government that “Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963 it is the responsibility of the host government to protect the sanctity of the consular premises and ensure the security of diplomats”.

It added” “We are conveying our strong protest to the German government, urging “Berlin to take immediate measures to ensure the security of Pakistani diplomatic missions and staff in the country”.

It also urged the local government to take immediate measures to “arrest and prosecute those involved in yesterday’s incident and hold to accountable those responsible for the lapses in security”.

Earlier, the Pakistani Embassy in Berlin also denounced the consulate attack as a “reprehensible vandalizing act”. It wrote on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that the diplomatic mission was in contact with the German authorities “to ensure such a situation doesn’t arise again and the miscreants face legal consequences”.

Surprisingly, German authorities have increasingly linked Afghan asylum-seekers in the country to criminal activities and announced last month that they are considering resuming deportations of criminals to Afghanistan.

In this context, German Interior Minister Faeser stated on June 4, this year in a news conference: “It is clear to me that people who pose a potential threat to Germany’s security must be deported quickly.” She emphasized that her country’s “security interests clearly outweigh the interests of those affected”, and “We are doing everything possible to find ways to deport criminals and dangerous people” to Afghanistan”.

Taking cognizance of the event, Federal Minister for Defense,  Khawaja Asif said that Pakistan needed to rethink their stance of hospitality against the people from Afghanistan, saying that Pakistan had fought wars for them; however, the people still resented the country—“You see how thankless these people are--“There’s a limit to hospitality—They talk against the integrity of Pakistan. They carry out proper rallies [against Pakistan]. They burn our flags”.

Even, in 2019, Pakistan’s victory over Afghanistan at the Asia Cup in Sharjah was marred by clashes between the two sets of fans.

Videos on social media had showed Afghan fans failing to control their emotions after seeing their team lose the match by one wicket and expressing their anger by hitting Pakistan fans as well as vandalising stadium property.

It is mentionable that tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have steadily increased since the Afghan Taliban seized Kabul in August 2021. Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks on its soil since November 2022 by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), based in Afghanistan. Islamabad asked Kabul to take action against the TTP and for sheltering the TTP militants.

Tensions between both countries escalated further in March, this year after Pakistan struck militant targets inside Afghanistan.

Ties between the two countries also took a hit after Pakistan last year launched a deportation drive to expel undocumented foreigners from its country, which mainly included Afghan nationals.

However, Pakistan’s decision to deport almost two million undocumented Afghan refugees over perceived security risks was justified.

Islamabad announced in October 2023 that it would expel all unregistered migrants. Implementing the decision Pakistan clarified that the measure was necessary to stem the growing influence of terrorist groups operating in its border region.

As regards the protest of the Taliban-led Afghan government, Pakistan’s top officials elaborated that the deportation order applies to all “unregistered foreigners” remaining in Pakistan as of November 1, 2023.

They explained that the policy is mainly designed to fight terrorism—These include the TTP and the Islamic State in Khorasan, an offshoot of the broader Islamic State group. Pakistani officials have held Afghan nationals accountable for a sharp increase in high-profile terrorist attacks and Taliban-led government of harboring militants.

Pakistan’s interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar in November 2023 pointed out: “A significant portion of those involved in criminal and terrorist activities are among these illegal (Afghan) immigrants”.

Regarding the recent terror assaults on the security forces and their installations, including a mosque, some other places and especially in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan which is central point of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) show that the CIA-led Indian RAW wants to damage the CPEC project which is part of China’s One Road (OBOR) or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). India and the US have already opposed the CPEC projects. Clandestinely, they are also supporting TTP in order to destablise Pakistan.

In the recent past, Pakistan’s security agencies captured many commanders, and some of them admitted that various terror outfits, especially TTP was involved in several assaults, and Afghan government still supports TTP. Islamabad has repeatedly warned Kabul in this regard and reiterated to take action against the TTP and its linked terror groups.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com