New Delhi: There seems to be no let up in the harassment of Indian and Pakistani diplomats in each other’s capital with India reporting two more occurrences on Monday, even as the two South Asian neighbours clashed over ceasefire violations and the denial of visas for pilgrims.The tit-for-tat incidents started to surface in early March, after Pakistan went public over a series of cases within a period of three days. Since then, the Indian side pointed out that the Indian high commission in Islamabad has been facing a “litany of issues” over the past few months.On Monday, two persons in a Toyota car “aggressively” followed two diplomats from the Indian high commission in Islamabad when they went for shopping at the Safa Gold Mall, an upscale shopping complex in the city, Indian officials said. Wherever the diplomats went, they were tailed and photographs taken from close proximity.Similarly, two other staffers who went out in a car with diplomatic license plates to shop at Islamabad’s Super Market were “intimidated” by “by two unknown persons on a motorbike”.“Such incidents of harassment, intimidation and threats to physical security of diplomats and officials are in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, and a threat to the security and safety of the personnel of the High Commission of India,” said Indian officials.A note verbale was also sent to the Pakistan foreign office listing the latest incidents on Monday. This is the third consecutive day that note verbales have been issued by India – and the 14th this year.India has also complained that website of the Indian high commission continues to be intermittently blocked, “causing inconvenience and has affected normal functioning of the mission”.Stating that the safety and security of Indian diplomats was the responsibility of Pakistan, New Delhi also requested Islamabad to immediately investigate all incidents and share the results of the probe with the high commission.Pakistani high commissioner Sohail Mehmood was recalled to Islamabad for consultations last week, and there is no scheduled date yet for his return to India.India started to publicise the cases of ‘harassment’ of its diplomats, only after Pakistan went public with its complaints and there has been no change in the working environment, sources said.In New Delhi, Pakistani high commission sources stated that there were also more cases of ‘harassment’ of their employees over the weekend. A Pakistani diplomat who attended a book launch event at the Press Club of India on Monday afternoon told reporters that he had been “stopped briefly” by unidentified persons on his way to the event.While there have been several occasions in the past when diplomats on either side have been subjected to intimidation, the latest series of incidents come at a time when there is heightened tension along the Line of Control in KashmirPakistan’s deputy high commissioner, Syed Haidar Shah, was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs on Monday and a protest lodged over the loss of five lives in a single family due to ceasefire violations at Bhimber Gali sector on the Line of Control on Saturday.An MEA press release claimed that Pakistan army was deliberately targeting civilians who were living two kilometres away from the forward line of defence, with high calibre weapons.“Such heinous acts are against established humanitarian norms and professional military conduct. The Pakistan authorities are called upon to investigate such heinous acts and instruct its forces to desist from such acts immediately,” it said.According to the MEA, Pakistan has violated the Line of Control 560 times in 2018 so far, killing 23 civilians and injuring 70 others.Pakistan, meanwhile, complained that India had rejected the visa applications of 503 pilgrims seeking to attend the Urs of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer Sharif.“Besides being violative of the bilateral protocol of 1974 and the basic human right to religious freedom, such measures also undermine the efforts aimed at improving the environment, increasing people-to-people contacts and normalising relations between the two countries. It is again ironic that this was done on the occasion of Urs of Hazrat Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti (RA) who has for centuries been the symbol of bringing communities closer to each other,” said a Pakistan foreign affairs ministry press note.Confirming the visa denial, Indian officials stated that there was precedence for visits of pilgrims not taking place “in view of the prevailing circumstances and absence of requisite security clearances”. “There have been instances in the past when such visits did not take place from both sides,” they added.