KARACHI, Pakistan, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- A hard-line Pakistani province and the federal government in Islamabad are at odds over an intelligence agent's arrest for allegedly planting a bomb.
The dispute began Tuesday when police in the North West Frontier Province arrested a man for dropping an object into a bin outside the home of the province's chief minister in Karachi.
The man was identified as junior federal Intelligence Bureau official Mohammad Tufail, and arresting police said the object he dropped was labeled "high explosive," a BBC correspondent reported.
Soon after his arrest, a senior federal intelligence officer arrived and took Tufail and the object away, infuriating provincial politicians in the Islamic region, the BBC said.
Intelligence officials tried to play down the incident Wednesday and said the object had actually been a package of biscuits but relented Thursday and turned Tufail over to police in Karachi.
