2 Indian High Commission Staff Go Missing in Islamabad

Two Indian high commission staffers posted inIslamabad have gone missing on Monday morning, people familiar with thedevelopments said. It is suspected that the two staffers may have been pickedup by Pakistani security agencies to frame them as spies.

The Pakistani move is seen as tit-for-tat over the expulsion of two Pakistan high commission officials caught spying earlier this month.

Asenior government official said the two Indian staffers posted at the Islamabadmission had stepped out for some work on Monday morning. When they did notreach their destination, high commission officials informed New Delhi andPakistan's foreign office.

ThePakistani action comes just about a fortnight after Delhi Police caught threeofficials of its mission in Delhi on a charge of trying to obtain classifiedinformation on the Indian security establishment.

Abid Hussain Abid, 42, an assistant in the Pakistanimission and Mohammad Tahir Khan, 44, a clerk, were expelled following theirdetention. The third was a driver, Javed Hussain, 36.

They had been in touch with three army personnel and one railway official and were trying to get information about Indian army troop movements.