Pakistan’s ex-diplomat skips Barcelona court in harassment case

BARCELONA: Pakistan’s former consul general at Barcelona, Spain, Mirza Salman Babar Baig did not appear in court even about a year after being summoned when he was found guilty of harassing a subordinate woman staffer.

Sources told News Diplomacy that soon after a case was filed against him, the diplomat left Spain for Pakistan and did not return to defend himself in the Barcelona court.

According to a newspaper report here, the counsel for Baig told the court that his client was in Pakistan and unable to come back to Spain.

The counsel added that Baig wants to return to Barcelona but the government of Pakistan was not allowing him to leave the country. However, the counsel for the complainant asked the defense to file documents showing that the government of Pakistan was not allowing Baig to come to Barcelonan to stand trial in the harassment case.

Back home, Baig has moved the Islamabad High Court and made the Foreign Office a respondent against his suspension in the harassment case. Last year when the trial of the case started, Baig in an interview had stated that he would visit Barcelona and defend himself against the allegations.  

The police here have also approached the Pakistani consulate seeking help to produce the former diplomat in the court. Sources told News Diplomacy that Spanish police cannot go to Pakistan to probe the suspect, as there was no such bilateral agreement.  

It may be recalled that in December 2021, Baig was posed to the Barcelona mission of Pakistan. The woman employee of the mission at Barcelona lodged a complaint against Baig in June 2022. The diplomat was suspended and recalled. Pakistan’s ambassador to Madrid, Shujaat Rathor, who received the complaint, had held an initial inquiry and verified the charges.

Later, a team of high-ranking civil servants, comprising the NADRA chairman and officials of Foreign Office and cyber crime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency, probed the allegations and found him guilty of harassment.

The Foreign Office later assigned two senior diplomats, Khalid Memon, Pakistan’s ambassador to Poland, and Mariam Madiha Aftab, Pakistan’s ambassador to Bulgaria, for another probe. The two also endorsed the findings of Ambassador Rathor. They recommended immediate recall to Pakistan of Babar and punitive proceedings against him under the rules.

Local media reports said the main evidence against the diplomat was text messages in an inappropriate language and instances where the victim was expressing her apologies and regrets.