Pakistan seeks UK spying assurance

By Zaffar Abbas
BBC correspondent in Islamabad

Pakistan has asked the UK Government for an inquiry into reports that its high commission in London was bugged by British intelligence services in 2001.

Foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri (r) with his UK counterpart, Jack Straw

It has also demanded assurances that such a thing would not happen again.

There has been no official comment on the matter by the governments in London and Islamabad.

But sources in the Pakistani foreign office have told the BBC they have raised the issue at the highest level and were now waiting for London to respond.

The British High Commissioner in Islamabad, Mark Lyall Grant, was summoned to the Pakistani foreign ministry on Tuesday and asked to explain reports that Pakistan's High Commission in London had been bugged.

'Holding internal inquiry'

The Sunday Times newspaper in London had earlier reported that the British intelligence service, MI5, had fitted bugging devices in an unnamed embassy in London under the cover of construction work, more than two years ago.

The exact details of the official note handed over to the British envoy have not been revealed.

But a senior official from the Pakistani foreign ministry told the BBC they have reason to believe it was their high commission where the bugging devices had been fitted in 2001.

On condition of anonymity, the official said the matter had also been raised by Pakistan's foreign minister, Khursheed Kasuri, when he had a scheduled meeting with the British foreign secretary, Jack Straw, in London earlier this week.

The foreign ministry source said they were holding their own internal inquiry and they have also asked the British government to investigate the matter.

If the reports are proven true, says the source, Pakistan would like to be assured that such a thing is not repeated in future.