Pak hopes expulsions won’t spoil ties

Islamabad (Pakistan): The expulsion of an Indian diplomat from Pakistan amid allegations of spying should not affect the peace process between the two countries, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

Pakistan on Saturday ordered an Indian visa official, who was allegedly caught with ''sensitive documents,'' to leave Pakistan, prompting a reciprocal expulsion of a Pakistani diplomat from India.

The tit-for-tat expulsions raised concerns for the future of the neighboring countries' peace dialogue, already shaken by allegations that Pakistani-based militants were responsible for commuter train bombings in Mumbai that killed 207 people.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam played down those concerns on Monday.

''In our view, the expulsions should make no difference to the peace process,'' she told a news conference in Islamabad.

Pakistan accused Deepak Kaul, the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, of ''undesirable activities,'' a term that Pakistani officials often use to refer to a diplomat suspected of being a spy.

India denied Kaul was involved in any wrongdoing.

Kaul arrived in India on Monday afternoon and denied carrying secret documents.

''I was intercepted, picked up, roughed up and handcuffed by Pakistani officials while on the way to Wagah to receive my family,'' Kaul said.

''I am disappointed with the way Pakistan treated me,'' Kaul said of the five hours that he was held.

Also on Saturday, India ordered the expulsion of Mohammed Rafique, a visa official at Pakistan's High Commission in New Delhi.

Rafique, his wife and their two children arrived on Monday evening in the eastern Pakistan city of Lahore on a flight from the Indian capital, an official at Lahore airport said on condition of anonymity because he lacked the authority to make formal press statements.

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