Two arrested handed over to India: Reports

Kathmandu, July 17 (UNI) Two Pakistani nationals arrested last week by the police here were handed over to the Indian police today, media reports said.

Asim Ali and Waled, who were arrested from a hotel here, were taken to India through Bhairahawa and handed over to the Indian police under the supervision of the International Police Organisation (Interpol), The Himalayan Times quoted an unnamed police official as saying.

''Nepal Police was tipped off about the names of six people suspected to be involved in the Mumbai serial blasts ,'' the paper said.

Meanwhile, the government of Pakistan has said that the arrest of two Pakistani nationals, Gulam Hussein Chima and Atta Muhaddin Siddiqi, from Hotel Everest in Kathmandu on July 11 is not related to the blasts that rocked Mumbai, India last week.

''Following some media reports linking the arrests to the blasts in Mumbai, the Pakistan mission in Kathmandu was instructed to immediately get in touch with Nepali Foreign Ministry to ascertain facts,'' a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamabad said.

''Our embassy was later contacted by Nepal police authorities who confirmed that the arrests made were in connection with an old case dating back to 2001 and that no linkage has been established with the Mumbai blasts,'' the spokesperson has said in the statement.

The Foreign Ministry has also called the Nepal Charge d' Affairs in Islamabad to make a demarche asking for consular access and release of the persons, the statement added.

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