The Foreign Office (FO) on Sunday 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.

According to Geo News, a group of Afghan nationals pelted stones at the Pakistani consulate and even brought down its national flag on Saturday, causing outrage on social media.

A statement issued by the FO today condemned the attack, 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.”

“We are conveying our strong protest to the German government,” it added, 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 account those responsible for the lapses in security”.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that Pakistan needed to rethink their stance of hospitality against the people from Afghanistan, adding that Pakistan had fought wars for them, however, the people still resented the country.

“You see how thankless these people are. We fought a war with them. We fought a war for them. We became a US ally and fought a war with Russia, we fought the Soviet Union,” Asif said in an interview with Geo News.

“There’s a limit to hospitality. They swore at us, They swore at Pakistan. They talk against the integrity of Pakistan. They carry out proper rallies [against Pakistan]. They burn our flags,” he said.

“I think Pakistan needs to rethink their hospitality,” he said.

It is not the first time a section of Afghan nationals has exhibited hostility towards Pakistan at neutral venue.

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.