Pakistan expels 'spies’

Press, 26 November 1981, Page 9

Pakistan expels 'spies’

NZPA-Reuter Islamabad Pakistan has ordered the expulsion of four members of India's consulate staff on espionage charges as relations between the two countries took a new turn for the worse. On Monday, India expelled three employees of the Pakistani Embassy in New Delhi, also on grounds of spying. A Pakistani spokesman said the Indians were being expelled because they had been involved in gathering classified information on the defence and security of Pakistan. The Indian Government rejected the allegations and

said the action against its four staff members was “purely propagandist and retaliatory.” The expulsion of the four Indians was announced on the day Islamabad became sure it would get 40 Fl 6 jets from the United States in a deal which has been one reason for the recent slump in relations with India. India regards the arms purchase as a threat, while Islamabad has said Indian weapons purchases from the Soviet Union endanger Pakistan. The two sub-continental neighbours have fought three wars against each other, the last in 1971.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Foreign Office said security services had had the four men expelled under surveillance for some time. An Indian Embassy spokesman said of the allegations: “There were no specific incidents given and this is obviously a retaliatory action for the measures we took in New Delhi.” The Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman said Pakistan also had protested to India about “the beating up of a staff member of the Pakistan Embassy in New Delhi on November 22.”