Despite the political rancour underlining Indo-Pak ties, a feeling of warmth and conviviality always shone out in exchanges between the people of the two countries. Is the situation changing now? An Indian diplomat representing India's high commissioner was ridiculed and humiliated this week in Islamabad in the presence of top international diplomats with the host accusing him? of underpaying for his presence there. The Kehkeshan Hall of Islamabad's swanky Serena Hotel was teeming with diplomats on Thursday evening. The occasion was Oxbridge Lecture organised by Pakistan's Oxford and Cambridge Society. They had gathered to listen to Afghanistan's ambassador to Pakistan Omar Zakhilwal on Af-Pak relations. Among them was an Indian diplomat representing India's high commissioner to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale. While introducing the speaker, the chairman of the Society, Irshad-Ullah Khan, started to talk "on a lighter note" about the drop-box voluntary donation of Rs 500 and above from all guests. Leaving his audience bemused, Rhodes Scholar Khan whipped out his wallet saying he had with him an Indian Rs 10 currency note which he claimed had been contributed by the Indian guest when he attended the last Oxbridge Lecture in February this year, again representing India's high commissioner. "How do you expect to resolve the Kashmir issue with a Rs 10 contribution," Khan said calling out the Indian diplomat from the audience. Even as Zakhilwal waited to take the floor, Khan went on to talk about how his staff had been "more vigilant this time and used cameras to establish that the diplomat had contributed only Rs 100" on this occasion. A businessman and poet, Khan is a very popular figure in Pakistan. The invite to the guests clearly said that the donation was voluntary and was meant to meet the Lecture expenses.

It didn't end there though. After the lecture by Zakhilwal, Khan thought it proper to bring up India's contribution again saying he had finally found the Rs 10 note in his wallet and displayed it to the audience. He went on to say that the Oxford and Cambridge Society would keep it as a souvenir from the Indian high commission.

The humiliation has stunned India's diplomatic community. India believes that what Khan did was "intentional" and an act of frustration, or even intimidation at a time when the Pakistan government is under pressure to ensure Kashmir remains the centrepiece of its engagement with India. Indian authorities say the diplomat on both occasions had dropped Rs 500 into the box. The diplomat in fact accosted Khan after the event and, as a source put it, thanks him for his "kind words and warm hospitality".

"Diplomats from either countries regularly work in hostile conditions but this kind of humiliation is rare. And he was not there in his personal capacity," said a source here.

India and Pakistan diplomats, even at the level of high commissioners, have come to expect occasional harassment as an occupational hazard. Last year, a club in Karachi refused to host Indian high commissioner. Never before though in recent times, as sources said, Indian diplomats have felt so strongly about the humiliation meted out to the diplomat at the Oxbridge Lecture in full view of Islamabad's diplomatic community.

Pakistan too has repeatedly accused MEA of preventing its diplomats from travelling out of Delhi. High commissioner Abdul Basit recently called off his visit to Chennai after Indian authorities allegedly delayed permission for the visit.