NATIONAL 6 -(Spotlight Weekly)]

High Drama

The expulsion of a Pakistani envoy raises troubling questions

By A CORRESPONDENT

Nepal seems to have become an unsafe place for foreigners— including diplomats — not because of the Maoist insurgency but because of acts of the government itself. Two actions taken against Pakistani envoys in as many years show how Nepal Police can harass diplomats representing one country to prove allegations leveled by another.

After a senior Pakistani diplomat was manhandled by police and expelled by the government just 13 hours before his scheduled departure in violation of the Vienna Convention, the core question remains: what benefit did Nepal get out of the episode?

Can Nepal be turned into a playground of a neighboring country? The dramatic events that took place in connection with Mohammed Arshad Cheema, the outgoing first secretary of the Pakistan Embassy in Kathmandu, showed how Nepal’s internal security system was used to harass a diplomat of one friendly country to buttress allegations of espionage and subversion hurled by another country.

"The incident was utterly unbelievable. How could a man even think of placing such a huge quantity of explosives at his residence?" asked a former police officer.

The actions of Nepal Police went on to prove allegations made by the Indian government and media that Pakistan’s intelligence agency is active in Nepal in its effort to foment sabotage in India. "It is very unfortunate that we are being used to discredit another friendly country. If Pakistan chooses to retaliate against Nepal, what would our situation be?" asked a former Nepalese diplomat on condition of anonymity.

The undiplomatic action of the Nepalese government has exposed the feebleness of its commitment to the Vienna Convention. By expelling Cheema in violation of internationally accepted norms, Kathmandu to have gone out of its way in accepting New Delhi’s accusations at face value.

"Nepal should not become a place for any foreign-inspired conspiracy against any of our friendly countries," said Hiranya Lal Shrestha, former MP and CPN-ML leader.

Nepal Police arrested Cheema on April 13 after seizing 16 kg of RDX explosives from the ground floor of the house he was residing in. Interestingly, police were said to have informed the general manager of Nepal Television and journalists of some leading private-sector daily newspapers before their action.

This suggests that the police operation was well planned. Otherwise, how did Nepal Police know it would recover something in the residence of the Pakistani envoy that would make headline news. It was believed that Nepal Police was tipped off by India, which has been harping on its theory that Nepal has become a base for Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).

Nepal Police had arrested another Pakistani envoy last year on charges of accumulating counterfeit Indian banknotes in his residence. After the expulsion of the diplomat, the government neither published a detailed report on the matter nor made any other effort to inform the people.

Everyone is familiar with the level of efficiency of Nepal Police’s intelligence network. How a security organisation that is caught off guard by each successive Maoist attack managed to blow the cover off such a sophisticated international plot remains unclear.

As senior Indian government officials and media organizations have been making every effort to project Nepal as haven for ISI-led subversion against India, even a slight mistake committed by Nepalese officials could boomerang on our interests.