By IANS
London/Islamabad : Pakistan's United Nations peacekeepers deployed in Congo were involved in trading in gold and also returned weapons to the militia groups there in 2005, a BBC investigation has alleged.
Its broadcast Wednesday said that Pakistani officers drew in Indian traders from Kenya as the transactions increased.
It did not elaborate on the Kenyan-Indian connections.
Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said that the UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations had informed Pakistan's permanent mission in New York on Tuesday that the BBC had been in contact regarding the allegations.
"On our part, our relevant authorities will look into the matter to ascertain facts," she said.
The Pakistani team at the centre of the controversy was working in and around the northeastern mining town of Mongbwalu two years ago to try and bring peace between Lendu and Hema ethnic groups.
The BBC quoted locals who said they saw evidence of peacekeepers' links to the gold trade, Daily Times reported Thursday.
Local businessman Evarista Anjasubu said he knew of transactions between Pakistani officers and two notorious militia leaders, called Kung Fu and Dragon, who controlled the gold mines.
"It was gold that was the basis of their friendship. So the gold extracted from the mines went directly to the Pakistanis. They used to meet in the UN camp in Mongbwalu, in a thatched house," he was quoted as saying.
Petronille Vaweka, a senior local official, said that she had tried to inspect cargo on a plane at Bunia airport but found her way blocked by Congolese army officers, who the BBC says were also involved.
Pakistan Army spokesman Maj Gen Wahid Arshad would not say whether his force planned its own investigation. However, he said, "The UN has not said anything against us."
A UN team sent to investigate faced intimidation and later buried its official report to avoid a political fallout, the British Broadcasting Corporation said.
William Swing, UN secretary general's special representative in Congo, told the broadcaster he would "categorically deny" that troops rearmed militia and that there was "absolutely nothing" to the allegation.
The investigation into claims of gold trading is ongoing, he added.