There might be an occasional silence on the borders but Pakistan has stepped up a wordy dual with India, always showing it as the peace-loving victim of Indian ‘aggression’ or discourtesies. In recent days, two events provided back-to-back opportunities for Pakistan to indulge in its favourite game of blame India for everything

The ‘demonetisation’ order by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that in one stroke sucked out huge currency from Indian monetary system, and the multi-national Heart of Asia conference in Amritsar, only 20 miles from the Radcliffe Line, provided just the excuse Pakistanis look for to accuse India of something or the other. Much of the world may ignore the grumbling by Pakistan but at least the home audience is placated and reassured that the Land of the Pure can take on the Infidels, word for word. Pakistan showed what ‘courteous’ treatment is about when the Indian home minister was in Islamabad a few months ago. That is beside the point.
It is hardly surprising that like every Indian, Pakistani diplomats in Delhi would not be able to escape the pain and suffering of the ‘monetization’ order and the restrictions on the amount that can be withdrawn from banks. Other diplomatic missions also were no exception.
Yet, promptly came a protest from the Pakistani high commission that their bank in Delhi was not helping them to withdraw the cash they wanted because the Indian government had instructed them to harass the Pakistani diplomats.
It is quite possible that the Pakistanis, like everyone else in Delhi, faced problems in withdrawing money from their bank. But it sounds too far-fetched to bring the Indian government into this.
If there was any problem it must not be very different from what other bank customers faced. Lots of Indians have been upset with the banking service during this Great War declared on Black Money and Corruption by Modi Sarkar. Some bank officials have been reportedly beaten by impatient crowds; some officials have also died due to overload of work.
But Pakistanis being Pakistanis must always try to convert anything and everything into Indian ‘intransigence’ or some such thing. In the fertile Pakistani mind the bank that has Pakistani mission’s account has been asked by the government of India to single out their diplomats for ill-treatment.
No, the Pakistanis were not joking. They threatened to take similar action against the Indian mission in Islamabad. The tit-for-tat policy is an article of faith with the Pakistanis. What shape the ‘retaliatory’ action by Pakistan will take is difficult to say because their government has turned down pleas of some of their own citizens to replicate the Modi order on demonetisation.
But just think. The Pakistanis do have a serious reason to be angry with the ‘demonetisation’ order. How will they convert into new notes the lakhs that they have set aside, in fake and genuine but old Indian currency, for the Kashmiri ‘freedom fighters’?  More so as the Indian government has fixed a ridiculously low limit for withdrawal of money from banks.
For Punjabis, Amritsar is a sort of gourmet’s paradise. But the Pakistanis had not come to the city of Golden Temple to taste the Amritsari fare which does include many ‘Haram’ vegetarian dishes. They had come to attend the Heart of Asia conference where to their dismay they found that both their immediate neighbours, India to the east and Afghanistan to the west, had ganged up to speak ill of the ‘peace-loving’ Pakistan.
As a result of this ganging up, the Amritsar declaration contained reference to two Pakistani outfits that regularly target India, along with, of course, many other groups. Generally all participating countries contribute to the drafting of declarations at international conferences. But Pakistanis think two of their organisations, LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammed, do only ‘charity’!
There were other discourtesies shown by the Indians to the Pakistani delegation in Amritsar where their de facto foreign minister, Sartaj Aziz, landed earlier than scheduled. They were stopped from visiting the Golden Temple where they were perhaps hoping against hope to interact with some Khalistani separatists, something like their meetings with Kashmiri separatists in Delhi before every meeting with Indian officials in India.
Another grouse: the visiting Pakistani VIP could not talk to the media from his country. Why that should be allowed when only a few months back they had barred Indian media accompanying the Indian Home Minister to meet him in Islamabad or listen to his address at the regional meet? But it troubled the Pakistanis because the bar on talking to their media persons on Indian soil deprived Aziz of an occasion to lambast India while still in India.  The garrulous Gen Pervez Musharraf, had set the tradition at Agra.
There are many other ways in which Pakistan finds excuses to run down India. If the ‘Hindu’ right wing asks Pakistani artists working in Bollywood to go back home it is supposed to show that India mixes art and culture with politics. Ditto for sporting ties. Pakistan strictly keeps the two apart!
If a Pakistani sport organisation fails to apply for visas in time for the high commission to process it the blame must go to the Indian government. You have to believe that Pakistan always issues visas to Indians at the press of a button to show its ‘magnanimity’! But the reality is very different. Many Indian visitors to Pakistan are trailed by their intelligence men. Even Indian diplomats are.
Back to Amritsar. Aziz was provided a bullet-proof car and was also allowed to travel in it right to the tarmac of the airport at Amritsar, a courtesy not extended to most other delegates. That too must have been interpreted as an act of discourtesy. It can be rather claustrophobic sitting inside a bullet-proof car with some gunmen.