ISLAMABAD - A Pakistani High Commission official was arrested in Indian capital New Delhi and kept under unlawful detention, private TV channels reported on Sunday, quoting sources.

According to diplomatic sources, the Pakistani official was kept under detention for several hours and forcefully made to sign some papers. The sources said that Pakistan took up the matter with the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.

Pakistan lodged protest over the Indian act of arresting its High Commission official, following which he was released.

Diplomatic sources said that arresting the official was a violation of the Vienna Convention and Pakistan made it clear to India that it has the right to retaliate to any such incident.

According to Indian media, the official of the Pakistan High Commission was involved in an altercation with an Indian woman in market place in New Delhi. The Indian lady complained against him in police station and took him there. At the police station he apologised to the lady and was let off.

Indian government sources claimed that there was no arrest.

Pakistan-India ties plummeted in recent years with no bilateral dialogue taking place. The two neighbours, having fought three wars since gaining independence from the British in 1947, regularly trade allegations of harassment and espionage against diplomats.

Tensions between Pakistan and India have been high since killing of a Kashmiri freedom fighter, Burhan Wani, in July 2016. An attack on Indian forces in September 2016 that killed 19 soldiers in Uri area of held Kashmir further heightened the tension. India also claimed that it had carried out a ‘surgical strike’ to avenge the Uri attack. Pakistan rejected the Indian claim.

In 2018, the Indian forces carried out more than 2,358 ceasefire violations along the Line of Control and the Working Boundary, resulting in the death of 26 civilians and injuries to 158 others.