Pakistani nationals living in Greece have seen a decline in racially motivated assaults recently, following a spike in such incidents, Pakistan’s ambassador in Athens, Khalid Usman Qaiser, told on an event hosted by the embassy on Monday to mark “Kashmir Solidarity Day.”



“Over the last three to four months the number of cases of assaults has gone down, although one more compatriot of ours was recently shot in the leg in Thessaloniki,” Qaiser said.



The ambassador also thanked the Citizens’ Protection Ministry for taking action to curb such phenomena and expressed his confidence in the Greek judicial system for bringing perpetrators of such hate crimes to justice.



The ambassador said that the number of Pakistanis legally living in Greece stands at 16,868, and that last year some 3,600 Pakistani immigrants were sent back to their country.



Referring to the bonds uniting Pakistan with Greece, Qaiser cited the significant influence of Alexander the Great on the Asian country, adding that “when we see the demonstrations about the Macedonia [name dispute], we understand.”



He also presented the Pakistani position on the disputed area of Kashmir, northern India, saying that “Kashmir is crying: ‘please come and help me’,” and claimed that besides other acts of intolerance, women in the predominantly Muslim region are increasingly subjected to the public humiliation of having their braids cut. He added that the Greek position on Kashmir is closer to that of India.