Some months before the exposure of the British intelligence effort to bug the Pakistan high commission in London, the British high commission in Pakistan found evidence that the office of its high commissioner in Islamabad had been bugged. According to a high-grade Western diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, about six months ago the British high commissioner in Islamabad found a loose device hanging from the side of his desk. Not quite sure what it was, he sent for his security staff who declared it to be a âbugâ. The finger of suspicion naturally pointed to the host government and after satisfying itself that this indeed was an attempt to bug the high commissionerâs personal office, the British high commission quietly lodged a formal protest with the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs. To this day, the source said, the Pakistan government had not come up with any response to the British protest, neither having denied the allegation nor admitted it.
| That's funny. Usually they deny everything, regardless of the evidence. Somebody must have lost it... |
The British government, says the source, decided not to go public with the discovery as it did not wish to jeopardise its otherwise good relations with Pakistan. The unearthing of a similar operation - though a botched one - by British intelligence at the Pakistan high commission in London would not have become public had there not been a report, a general one about an un-named embassy, in a London newspaper which was further investigated by Daily Times in Pakistan and converted into a bombshell scoop that the embassy, referred to in the report, was none other than the Pakistan high commission in London. The Pakistan government has made no response to the British protest and the British government has done likewise. âIn my book, the two sides are even and should move on without chasing shadows,â the source told Daily Times, adding, âthe British attempt to bug the Pakistan high commission was shoddy and it was blown sky high first by a British and then a Pakistani newspaper. The Pakistani attempt was inept. Perhaps they should use better glue next time so that the bug does not go dangling.â
| Not like the Brits to be that clumsy. Is the real bug still in the table leg? |
The news that Pakistani spooks tried to bug the British High Commissionerâs office in Islamabad has now been divulged, said one pundit, so that Pakistan cannot sit on a high horse alone and the mutual bugging incidents are conveniently buried in the deep archives of both Foreign Offices. |