ISLAMABAD // Pakistan on Thursday named eight Indian diplomats it accuses of espionage and terrorism, as tension mounted between the South Asian rivals following days of artillery duels and skirmishes on the border dividing the disputed Kashmir region.
The foreign ministry said six Indian embassy staff worked for New Delhi’s Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) intelligence agency, while two were operatives for the Intelligence Bureau agency. Their names were leaked to Pakistani media overnight.
India said it “completely rejected the baseless and unsubstantiated allegations” against its officials at its high commission in Islamabad.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry named Rajesh Kumar Agnihotri, a commercial counsellor, as RAW’s station chief in Islamabad, and gave an eight-point list of the diplomats’ espionage activities.
It accused them of fuelling instability in Sindh and Balochistan provinces, as well as sabotaging its most vital economic project, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, involving transport and energy infrastructure projects to link China with Pakistan’s coast on the Arabian Sea.
They were also accused of liaising with factions of the Pakistani Taliban and of working to damage Pakistan’s relations with its western neighbour Afghanistan.
It was not immediately clear if the diplomats would be expelled by Pakistan or withdrawn by India, which condemned the publication of their names and images and called on Pakistan to ensure their safety.
Last week, India and Pakistan both expelled one diplomat from each other’s embassies, accusing them of spying.
The foreign ministry also said Pakistan had withdrawn six diplomats from its mission in India after Indian media reported they had been involved in spying.
Vikas Swarup, spokesman of the Indian ministry of external affairs, said Islamabad had withdrawn its diplomats after some were named by the Pakistani embassy worker that it had expelled last week.
The allegations against the Indian diplomats in Islamabad were “an afterthought and a crude attempt to target these officials for no fault of their own”, said Mr Swarup, adding that Pakistan’s actions added to security risks in the region.
* Reuters
