German espionage claims ridiculed

ISPR director general says report is not worth commenting on.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani officials rejected on Monday a German newspaper report that the country’s secret service spied on German security forces in Afghanistan.

Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Major-General Athar Abbas said the report was not worth commenting on.

Without citing its sources, mass-selling weekly Bild am Sonntagreported on Sunday that Germany’s BND foreign intelligence agency warned its interior ministry that Pakistan had spied on 180 German police officers deployed in Afghanistan to train locals.

A Pakistani foreign ministry official, who asked not to be identified, described the report as “ridiculous” and “useless”.

Bild am Sonntag said private telephone calls, messages to the German interior ministry, military mission orders and lists of police officer names had been intercepted, raising fears sensitive information could end up in the hands of the Taliban.

The German interior ministry told Reuters the BND suspected a German email had been intercepted but could not give confirmation. The ministry added it was not aware of any comprehensive interception of German police data. The BND declined to comment on the report.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2011.