Barnes rebuts Jaswant: never wrote or got note

8226; Later, speaking to NDTV 24 X 7, Jaswant said: 8220;I have never claimed that I knew the name of the mole. It8217;s the media which claimed IFormer US Ambassador to India Harry Barnes has denied having anything to do with what Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh claims is the correspondence between Barnes and US Senator Thomas Graham that hints at a mole in the Prime Minister8217;s Office.

Although Singh tonight admitted that he had no idea who the mole was, in the Rajya Sabha he named Graham as the sender and Barnes as the recipient of a 1995 note that indicated a 8220;senior person8221; in the PMO had leaked information to the US on 8220;nuclear testing8212;deployment of Prithvi and other steps.8221;

8220;I did not write it and this is not my standard language8230;I do not remember having received such a document either,8221; Barnes told The Indian Express from Peachem, Vermont, where he is now advisor to the National Science Foundation for the Siachen peace park project.

Barnes said he was not even in India in 1995 when the letter is supposed to have been written he was US Ambassador to India between 1981-1985 when Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister and for a year when Rajiv was in charge.

When asked about the controversy over the suspected US mole, Barnes said he had 8220;no inkling about any such activities,8221; emphasizing that his tenure was much before the purported date of the letter.

Barnes said that since he was heading the Conflict Resolution and Human Rights Program at the Carter Center, he was in constant touch with Graham who was then a program officer at the Rockefeller Foundation.

8220;I doubt very much that we discussed anything about Prithvi missiles since I know little about them,8221; Barnes said.

Barnes acknowledged there was a lot of 8220;generic discussion8221; on Indo-US relations but said he just cannot recollect having written such a document or has any knowledge about any secret meeting in Bangalore as mentioned in the letter. Barnes said the last time he visited Bangalore was in 1999-2000.

Most recently, Barnes was in India on June 27-28 this year when he participated in a Himalayan Science Workshop at Dehradun where Indian, US and Canadian scientists drew up plans for setting up a high-altitude lab to study the unique geology of the high Himalayas as part of the Siachen Peace Park.

Who8217;s mole, asks PM; Jaswant finally says I don8217;t know

8226; Two hours and an adjournment later in the RS, Jaswant did not give the name of the mole provoking the PM to say 8220;now the nation will draw its conclusions.8221; He asked Jaswant: 8220;Who is the mole, why are you shying away from that?8221;

8226; Later, speaking to NDTV 24 X 7, Jaswant said: 8220;I have never claimed that I knew the name of the mole. It8217;s the media which claimed I knew it.8221; knew it.8221;