Pakistan may expel two Indian diplomats in Islamabad for spying

According to sources, Rajesh Kumar Agnihotri and Balbir Singh were involved in terrorist activities across the country

ISLAMABAD: Two Indian diplomats in Islamabad have been caught spying for India's premier spy agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), and may be expelled, sources told The Express Tribune on Wednesday.

According to sources, Rajesh Kumar Agnihotri has been identified as RAW station chief, while Balbir Singh has been identified as an officer of  the Indian Intelligence Bureau (IB). Both officers were working at the Indian High Commission office in Islamabad.



A source said both Agnihotri and Balbir were involved in terrorist activities in the country. "Recently expelled Indian diplomat Surjeet Singh was also a part of Balbir's network," the source added.

"Balbir Singh was helping the Indian IB operatives to carry out subversive activities in Pakistan," the source further said.

In New Delhi, Vikas Swarup, the spokesman for India's Ministry of External Affairs, told Reuters the ministry was "aware" of the media reports. "We have yet to receive any official communication in the matter," Swarup added.

Last week, Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had declared Surjeet Singh persona non grata and given him 48 hours to leave the country. Surjeet was an official at the Indian High Commission, in a statement from the foreign ministry.



“The foreign secretary expressed deep concern over the activities of the Indian official that were in violation of the Vienna Convention and the established diplomatic norms."

In March, a ‘serving Indian naval intelligence officer’ allegedly working for RAW was arrested by security forces near the Pakistan-Afghan border region in the Chaman area of Balochistan. According to reports, Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti confirmed Bhoshan Yadav’s involvement in fueling unrest in the troubled province. Last year, Bugti had claimed RAW and NDS are behind the funding and training of Baloch Republican Army (BRA) militants.

Relations between the arch rivals have been strained since the summer, when civil unrest erupted in Indian-held Kashmir, with Islamabad lobbying globally against India and New Delhi's crackdown on Kashmiri activists.

Tension soared after a group of gunmen killed 19 Indian soldiers in September at an army camp in Kashmir, an attack India blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

India said it carried out a "surgical strike" in Pakistan as retribution, but Islamabad denied the strike took place and accuses India of inventing it to distract attention from its crackdown on protests in the part of Kashmir it controls.

India claims identities of 8 diplomats exposed

Following the development, India has claimed that the identities of eight of its diplomats in Pakistan had been revealed in the media.

Vikas Swarup, spokesperson of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, declined to comment when asked whether the eight diplomats stationed in Islamabad would be withdrawn.

Pakistani diplomats had left the Indian capital on Wednesday, but that they were not expelled, he added.