LONDON, DECEMBER 8: The British Foreign Office on Tuesday summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Akbar Ahmed and ``explained'' to him the seriousness of allegations that a member of his diplomatic staff had broken British law by allegedly offering to supply anti-personnel landmines to Sudan even as Islamabad ordered a ``high-level'' inquiry into the charges.``I summoned the Pakistan High Commissioner and explained to him the seriousness of these allegations,'' Foreign Office Minister Peter Hain said in a statement.Channel 4 secretly filmed a Pakistani diplomat, Azeem Zaki, allegedly agreeing to sell landmines to its reporter, who was posing as a British arms dealer, during a meeting at a hotel in Knightsbridge.The programme was based on a ``sting'' operation conducted apparently sometime in September 1999 (during the regime of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif) against a junior High Commission official, a communication from the Pakistan High Commission addressed to the Times today said.The Channel 4 programme, to be telecast on Thursday, has alleged that ``criminal offences may have been committed under the Landmines Act. I view these allegations very seriously. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office referred the matter immediately to Customs and Excise,'' Hains said.In the communication addressed to the Editor of the Times, the press attache of the Pakistan High Commission, Samina Parvez, said they are ``already in communication with Channel 4 and have requested for a preview of the programme, which has been refused''.In a press release, Channel 4 said that in its despatches programme, `Licensed to Kill', to be telecast on Thursday, undercover reporter Lee Sorrell posed as an arms dealer and filmed a series of conversations he had with Azeem Zaki, a technical attache at the Pakistan High Commission in a Knightsbridge Hotel in South London.``Zaki is shown offering to sell a range of arms to Sorrell, including anti-personnel landmines, which he is prepared to export to Sudan. Zaki's verbal offers were confirmed by faxes from the state-owned Pakistan Ordnance Factory (POF) to Sorell's fictitious company.``It is a criminal offence to offer for sale anti-personnel landmines in Britain and there is an EU arms embargo on exports to Sudan. POF also provided Sorrell with a company brochure from an arms fair at Surrey, a suburb of London, detailing the landmines they were prepared to sell,'' the release said.Last week Channel 4 asked the Foreign Secretary for his views on these revelations in light of the government's ``ethical foreign policy'' for inclusion in Thursday's despatches. The Foreign Office has responded by beginning an immediate investigation into the programme's allegations, the release said.A spokesperson of Her Majesty's Customs and Excise told PTI that the matter has been referred to it by the Foreign Office. ``The matter is under investigation,'' she said.
