KATHMANDU, April 13 (News Agencies) - A Pakistani diplomat on Friday was expelled from Nepal and given 24 hours to leave the country after he was found in possession of powerful explosives, state-run television reported.
The Pakistani embassy's first secretary, Mohammad Arshad Cheema, and his wife Rubina Cheema, were detained late Thursday at a rented house in Kathmandu.
Cheema was arrested for possessing 16 kilograms (35 pounds) of explosives.
"The Nepalese government has expelled the Pakistani first secretary detained with large quantities of explosives," the television said.
"As it is incompatible with his diplomatic duties and inconsistent with the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations, the Nepalese government has decided that the Pakistani diplomat, Mr. Cheema, should leave the country within 24 hours," the television quoted a foreign ministry statement as saying.
Cheema has denied the explosives belonged to him.
"Cheema said he was living in the rented house in Kathmandu but said he had nothing to do with the explosives and does not know how they found their way into the house," a home ministry official said, asking to remain anonymous.
"He said the whole thing was a set up by India and blamed it on the Indians," he added.
The Pakistani embassy here also described the incident as "fabricated."
According to neighbors, the downstairs flat of Cheema's house was used as the offices of a highway construction firm Sachel Engineering.
Police chief Madhav Thapa, who led the arrest on Thursday after police received a tip-off, said it was the first time such a large quantity of powerful explosives - enough to destroy the entire Kathmandu valley - had been recovered.
India has often accused Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence of using Nepal as a base to route explosives into India.
