In the wake of increasing tension between the two nuclear armed neighbours, each country has accused the other for posting spies in their respective high commissions and over the past few days have identified such officials asking each other to withdraw them.
India decided to withdraw eight officials from its mission in Islamabad on Wednesday, hours after Pakistan called back six of its officials from its high commission here. The Indian officials have been accused of being spies and Pakistani media flashed their names.
The tit-for-tat expulsions would further worsen the chill in India-Pakistan ties, which have been deteriorating since attack on an Army camp at Uri.
Pakistan on Wednesday pulled out six employees posted at its high commission in New Delhi. The six high commission officials returned to Pakistan via the Wagah border.
The Foreign Office on Thursday confirmed eight staffers of Indian High Commission in Islamabad as operatives of Indian intelligence agencies and said the same were found involved in coordinating terrorist activities, including handling of factions of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
“The activities of these operatives of RAW and IB include espionage, subversion and supporting of terrorist activities in Balochistan and Sindh, especially Karachi,” the Foreign Office said at a media briefing here.
FO spokesman Nafees Zakaria said the staffers under the garb of diplomatic assignments were involved in “sabotaging China Pakistan Economic Corridor, creating fuel instability in Balochistan and Sindh”.
He mentioned that besides handling the factions of TTP, the staffers were involved in creating unrest in Gilgit Baltistan.
The Spokesman said the undercover diplomats as RAW’s operatives included Rajesh Kumar Agnihotri (Commercial Counsellor, RAW’s station chief), Anurag Singh (First Secretary Commercial), Amerdeep Singh Bhatti (Attache Visa), and staff members Dharmendra Sodhi, Vijay Kumar Verma and Madhavan Nanda Kumar.
Those as operatives of Indian Intelligence Bureau (IB) are Balbir Singh (First Secretary Press and Information, IB Station Chief) and Jayabalan Senthil (Assistant Personnel Welfare Officer).
He said Surjeet Singh who was declared ‘persona non grata’ a few days back was also an IB operative working under Balbir Singh.
He said Surjeet was using a fake identity as Abdul Hafeez pretending to be a telecommunication company Warid’s employee.
“We are disappointed that India has not only been found involved in promoting terrorist activities and terror financing as was disclosed by Kulbhushan Yadav and further confirmed by the statements at the highest political level on August 15th, but also been using its diplomatic mission for nefarious designs,” he said.
About the activities of staffers, Zakaria said they were expanding network of their operatives and agents and were leveraging their position as diplomats for ingress into influential circles for gathering inside information.
He said the diplomats were involved in damaging Pakistan-Afghanistan relations, infiltrating Indian agents into social, media and political circles for propaganda purposes and promoting activities detrimental to Pakistan’s interests.
Also they were fabricating evidences to portray Pakistan as a state sponsoring terrorism, instigating religious minorities, fueling sectarianism and maligning Pakistan with propaganda on human rights issues, he added.
He further said the staffers were also involved in activities in Azad Jammu Kashmir, detrimental to the Kashmir cause and were misleading international community about indigenous movement for self-determination in Indian Occupied Kashmir.
Zakaria said India violated diplomatic norms and Vienna Convention on arresting Pakistani diplomatic staff Mahmood Akhter and also deliberately released the names of six other diplomats and diplomatic staff falsely accusing them, endangering their’s and their families’ lives.
“They were unable to perform their diplomatic duties while their families were harassed. Consequently, we had to recall them for their safety. These highly regrettable acts were also part of their desperation to divert World’s attention from atrocities in IoK,” he said. Agencies