Dear Mr. Upadhyaya, Telegraph weekly
We wish to draw your attention to the third
paragraph of the news item captioned "Hijacking yet An Enigma; IC Scandal"
published in your weekly "The Telegraph" Vol.16 No. 44 of 12 January, 2000.
While referring to the recent unfortunate incident of fake Indian currency episode, it has
been erroneously mentioned that a "Pakistani diplomat" was involved in the
affair. This is factually incorrect. We would like to set the record straight. First it
was an administrative and technical staff member of this Mission who was wrongly
implicated in the episode. Secondly, the house of the official was fully searched by the
police twice. Even in the second search, which was conducted in the presence of the
representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, His Majesty's Government of Nepal and
Pakistan Embassy, not a shred of evidence was found in the apartment. Despite that the
Embassy official was illegally detained and kept at an unknown place for forty eight hours
during which the Embassy was neither informed on his where about and well being nor
allowed any consular access. This embassy maintains that the action constituted a serious
breach of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities of 1961, and that
it had formally conveyed on the 4th of January, 2000, the Government of Pakistan's
decision to recall the official and carry out necessary investigations in case evidence
was provided.
2. We have full confidence in the judgement
of our Nepali friends about the authenticity or otherwise of the allegations. Clearly
certain vested interests are consciously engaged in a vicious propaganda campaign against
the Embassy of Pakistan in Kathmandu to malign the image of this Mission and that of
Pakistan.
3. Since the 'Telegraph' enjoys good credentials
and sound reputation, we feel that it would be only proper for you to correct the wrong
perception created due to the factually in-correct reporting.
Yours sincerely
Malik M. Farooq, Head of Chancery
Embassy of Pakistan
January 14, 2000,Kathmandu |
