Allegations against Moses absurd: India

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 19. The Foreign Affairs Ministry today summoned the Pakistani deputy High Commissioner, Mr. Akbar Zeb, for a second time and pointed out to him that Pakistan had not acted on the detailed evidence provided to it on the use of its soil for cross-border terrorism.

The allegations against Mr. P. Moses, the expelled staffer, of the Indian High Commission, were ``as fanciful and far-fetched as the so-called evidence'' which was ``concocted and baseless.''

Rejecting the strong-arm tactics used against Mr. Moses, the Foreign Office in a statement pointed out that the use of force against him was a violation of Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations and the bilateral code of conduct between India and Pakistan on the treatment of diplomatic and consular personnel. This ``abhorrent behaviour'' by the Pakistani authorities, endangered the personal safety of Mr. Moses and his family. It also subjected him to mental ill-treatment by parading him in front of the media, it observed.

``Absurd allegations were made of Mr. Moses wanting to hand over obviously planted items to an unidentified person. The fact that Mr. Moses was not even questioned about this person and of his alleged accomplices in the High Commission indicates that the charges by the Pakistani authorities were spurious and the entire event was a transparent frame up.''

The Pakistani envoy was reminded that Islamabad had not taken any action on the information provided by India during a meeting of the Home Secretaries on November 12, 1998 about the existence of the vast infrastructure on Pakistani territory for recruiting, indoctrination, training, arming financing and infiltrating terrorists into India. All these actions, he was told, were carried out with the ``full knowledge and complicity of the government and other agencies of Pakistan.''

Pakistan should apprehend and extradite the hijackers of the Indian Airlines plane who were believed to be on its soil, Mr. Zeb was told. India , on January 15, had first handed a note to the Pakistani High Commissioner for the arrest and extradition of the hijackers.

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