NewsFriday, March 14, 2008
Mehmood was a spy, died of illness, claims Indian diplomat
* Foreign Office asks India to share complete report on issue
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Indian High Commission (IHC) claimed on Thursday that Khalid Mehmood - who went to India to watch a cricket match in 2005, was later arrested, and died in an Indian prison- was a Pakistani spy and had died of an illness in an Indian prison. Indian First Secretary (Press and Information) Sanjay Mathur told Daily Times that Mehmood had disappeared in India until Faridabad police caught him transferring sensitive documents to “some” people travelling to Pakistan on the Samjhota Express in May 2006. Mathur said Mehmood had died of illness and not from police torture. “Mehmood was in judicial custody and not police custody, so question of police torture does not arise,” he said. Regarding the Pakistan Foreign Office’s statement that Mehmood’s name had never appeared on any of lists of prisoners exchanged by the two countries, he said, “Lists usually carry the names of prisoners whereas Mehmood was an under-trial prisoner and was not serving a sentence,” he said. Meanwhile, the IHC said in a statement that disinformation was being spread in various media reports following the repatriation of Mehmood’s body. It said Mehmood was booked under various sections of the law, including the Foreigners Act, the Passport Act, the Official Secrets Act and the Indian Penal Code, and tried before a court in Faridabad, and that he had been an under-trial prisoner in a jail in Gurgaon since May 25, 2006. It said Mehmood was provided with medical treatment as his symptoms arose from time to time “but unfortunately he did not respond to the treatment and succumbed to his ailment on Feb 12,” it said. Full report: Pakistan, in response to the clarification issued by the IHC regarding Mehmood’s death, asked India on Thursday to once again provide a full report into the circumstances regarding the death and to share the results of the investigation conducted into the matter, APP reported. Foreign Office spokesman Muhammad Sadiq said the IHC clarification “does not fully explain the circumstances for the death of Khalid Mehmood”.
Courtesy Daily Times