Pakistan's Consulate General in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan closed down after a woman with a hand grenade tried to sneak into the consulate, Foreign Office said. "Today, the Pakistan Consulate General in Mazar-e-Sharif was closed when an Afghan woman was caught trying to sneak a hand grenade into the Consulate, in her personal bag", Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal said on Sunday, adding that the woman was arrested by the police and is under investigation to find perpetrators of the failed attack. He said that consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif will remain closed for visa services till the provision of fool-proof security by the authorities in Mazar-e-Sharif to prevent any untoward incident in the Consulate General.
The spokesperson further said that the embassy of Pakistan in Kabul has urged the Afghan Foreign Office to provide foolproof security to its consulate general in Mazar-e-Sharif and to share the findings of its investigation at the earliest.
In September last year, Pakistan closed its consulate in Jalalabad due to security concerns and undue intervention by Nangarhar Governor Hayatullah Hayat in the functioning of the consulate general. However, the consulate in Jalalabad was reopened after about a month when the Afghan authorities brought back the security arrangements to the previous position.