The Hindu : Foreign Office studying charges against Pak. official

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 08, 2003

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Foreign Office studying charges against Pak. official

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI Feb. 7. The Foreign Office is considering a report from the Home Ministry on the case involving the alleged handing over of Rs. 3 lakhs by the Pakistani Charge d'Affaires, Jalil Abbas Jilani, to a Kashmiri "activist" on Thursday.

"We are giving this report our full and detailed consideration," the Foreign Office spokesman said this evening. An "appropriate decision" was expected in the matter after the process of consideration was over.

Already, the Indian and Pakistani missions have been without High Commissioners for several months and if the Government decides to act further against Mr. Jilani then this would have obvious implications for India-Pakistan relations.

For his part, Mr. Jilani today categorically denied the incident. "I absolutely and totally deny the charges. It has come as a major surprise to me," he maintained. The Charge d'Affaires, whose name figures in the FIR registered in the case, claimed that the incident was linked to the previous harassment that he had faced at the hands of Indian security agencies.

In a statement, the Pakistani High Commission deplored the "utterly baseless" and "mala fide vilification campaign" launched in the media by the Delhi police against Mr. Jilani and the Pakistani mission that two arrested Kashmiris purportedly received money from the High Commission.

"While strongly rejecting the allegations, Pakistani High Commission condemns this reprehensible vicious propaganda and regrets that this anti-Pakistan tirade of insults which is in contravention of all diplomatic norms and practices would further vitiate the already tense bilateral relations," he said. Asked whether he had met this Kashmiri "activist" in the High Commission on Thursday, Mr. Jilani flatly denied having met the person in question, who was identified as Anjum Zamrud Habib by the Delhi police. He also denied that Ms. Habib had visited the High Commission on Thursday.

Responding to the denials, official sources said that these were only to be expected.

"We are not surprised by the denials," they said. Pakistan continues to deny its involvement in cross-border terrorism and so the denials issued today were on similar lines.

Those familiar with the cycle of "incidents" and "counter-incidents" between Pakistan and India said that the inclusion of Mr. Jilani's name in the FIR registered in the case was a new dimension.

Given the tit-for-tat nature of the bilateral equation between Islamabad and New Delhi, any further action against Mr. Jilani will, in all likelihood, be matched by steps against his Indian counterpart, Sudhir Vyas.

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