India asks Pak High Commission driver to leave

New Delhi, Oct 24 (UNI) India today declared as 'persona non grata' a driver of the Pakistan High Commission here, who was caught red handed accepting sensitive documents from an army jawan, and asked him to leave the country by Friday.

The driver, Mohd Farooq, was caught red handed on Sunday at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here while receiving sensitive documents from a jawan of the Indian Army.

Sources in the External Affairs Ministry, while confirming the reports, said the Pakistan High Commission had been told that Mohammed Farooq had been found indulging in ''incompatible'' activities and should be withdrawn.

He had been asked to leave the country by Friday.

The incident of spying has sparked off a new diplomatic row between India and Pakistan who are resuming Foreign Secretary-level talks in November.

Ritesh Kumar, a signalman with the Indian Army, was arrested from the IGI airport while passing sensitive ducuments to Mohammed Farooq. His arrest was announced by police on Sunday.

Another Indian armyman, Anil Kumar Dubey, had been arrested from the Mahipalpur area of south Delhi on Saturday when he was handing over secret documents to a Pakistan High Commission employee.

The two army jawans were passing on sensitive information about troop deployments in Jammu and Kashmir to the Pakistan High Commission employees.

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