World | Pakistan
'Indian agency blamed for attack on Pakistan envoy' Fresh curbs on Delhi diplomats
A Pakistani newspaper has blamed Indian intelligence for a bomb attack aimed at Islamabad's envoy in Colombo that killed seven people last week.
- IANS
- Published: 00:00 August 20, 2006
Islamabad: A Pakistani newspaper has blamed Indian intelligence for a bomb attack aimed at Islamabad's envoy in Colombo that killed seven people last week.
The News quoted unnamed officials as saying that India engineered the August 14 attack on its high commissioner to Sri Lanka, Bashri Wali Mohammad, in an attempt to spoil the burgeoning military and economic ties between Islamabad and Colombo.
The Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India's external intelligence agency, carried out the attack on Mohammad that killed, among others, the four Sri Lankan bodyguards of the diplomat, the daily said. The envoy escaped unhurt. Mohammad, a former chief of Pakistan's Intelligence Bureau, has completed his tenure in Sri Lanka and is set to return home tomorrow. He was a retired colonel of the Pakistan Army.
News reports say the attack coincided with the landing of two shiploads of weapons for the Sri Lankan armed forces, meant to fight the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
According to the Pakistani officials, the high commissioner played a pivotal role in strengthening relations between Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
"India was not comfortable with his presence in Colombo and also perturbed over Pakistan's increasing clout in the region," the newspaper quoted a source as saying.
"Pakistan and Sri Lanka are the first two countries of South Asia which have had free trade agreement (FTA). RAW wanted to sour Pakistan-Lankan relations through this attack," they alleged.
India has condemned the attack on the Pakistani diplomat that took place in the heart of Colombo when he was returning home after attending his country's Independence Day celebrations at the mission.
Islamabad (IANS) Pakistan says it is "constrained" to restrict the movements of Indian diplomats since India is doing the same to its diplomats in New Delhi.
Reporting what it says was "water-testing game", The News quoted unnamed officials saying that henceforth "reciprocity" would govern the treatment meted out to the diplomats in each other's countries.
Reciprocity, however, has always been the norm in the diplomatic behaviour of the two neighbours towards each other from attending diplomatic ceremonies to expelling staff members on charges of spying, diplomatic sources say.
The new restrictions pertain to not leaving assigned cities without prior information to the host government.
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