November 11, 2003	Tuesday	Ramazan 15, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 10: Pakistan will soon dispatch a team to London to investigate the reported bugging of its High Commission some time after the Sept 11 terror attacks by MI5, Britain’s domestic spy agency, sources said on Monday.

“A four- to five-member team, headed by an additional secretary of the foreign ministry, will leave for London next week to investigate the alleged bugging of Pakistan’s mission there,” these sources said.

The team will include representatives of the interior ministry and the country’s “premier intelligence agency” as well as technical and security experts, sources said.

The source said an advance team has already been sent for tightening security checks on the diplomatic mission’s standard operating procedures, encompassing personnel, premises, documentation and communications.

“The team will first ascertain whether or not the incident had actually occurred and if at all it had taken place, the team will look into how it can be neutralised,” he explained.

Another source hinted that a de-bugging operation was likely to be launched by Pakistani experts as early as next week.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani High Commission would be constrained to operate “as if it were in a hostile territory,” sources said.

Islamabad appears to be irked by the reticence that its demand for an internal investigation has met in London. Pakistan wants an internal inquiry to establish whether the British Home secretary David Blunket authorised the bugging operation or not. There is a view that Britain is trying to block the investigation on the premise of its being an intelligence matter.

“To say the least, the response from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 10 Downing Street, White Hall, and Scotland Yard has so far been disappointing,” an insider said.

Apparently, the British government is neither denying nor confirming the report. The standard line being given to Pakistan from all official quarters in London is: “It is an intelligence matter and we do not comment on such matters.”

“They do not have to go public with it but they do owe us an explanation,” a senior diplomat argued, pointing to the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations that deals with privileges of diplomatic missions.

“We will make our own determination but the British government has to tell us whether it ordered the bugging or not,” argued another official, emphasising that it has to be credible.