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Pakistan HC complains of intruder

* Police believes intruder could be monkey

By Iftikhar Gilani

NEW DELHI: The Pakistani and Sri Lankan High Commissions in the city recently complained to police that intruders had sneaked into their commissions’ premises. As President Pervez Musharraf’s visit is around the corner, a posse of policemen and intelligence personnel thoroughly searched the Pakistani High Commission, but no intruder was found.

Soon after the Pakistani complaint, it was the Sri Lankans complaining to police that an intruder had tried to break into their high commission’s premises. Again sleuths searched the premises, but found nothing. Though police is yet to nab the intruders, they believe it could be the monkeys that infest New Delhi. “The monkey menace is a huge problem in the Chanakyapuri area. But there is little that can be done to solve this problem,” a police official said. The heart of the Indian power centre, the North and South Block buildings are infested with monkeys. Four years ago, monkeys had stormed a meeting on Jammu and Kashmir at the Union Home Ministry chaired by former deputy prime minister LK Advani.

Later, the Union Home Ministry kept a trained monkey to drive away its brethren. Every morning and in the afternoons, a sleuth from the Home Ministry would lead the monkey into the corridors of North and South Block and Parliament House to shoo away the simian nuisance. However, in the Delhi State Assembly, monkeys recently got their act together and killed the monkey, which was there to frighten them. The Union Environment and Forests Ministry had in the past planed to send the monkeys packing to the forests of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. But, either they return from these forests or a new crop of monkeys swarms the Indian power centres.

A few years ago, the Union Health Ministry had complained that monkeys had made life miserable for officials and they would tear files and official papers. A request was made to the Environment Ministry to send wild life experts to tackle the menace.

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