ISLAMABAD: 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.
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).
The Spokesman 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.
The Spokesman 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.
When asked if diplomatic space was shrinking for Pakistanis in India, Nafees Zakaria said India had violated the diplomatic norms and also the code of conduct of maintaining relations between two sovereign states, whereas, “Pakistan pursued a policy of restraint, patience and sobriety which was appreciated world over”.
The Spokesman said Indian occupation forces continued killing defenceless Kashmiris, blinding Kashmiri youth including minors and constantly committing crimes against humanity for four months.
He said India was desperate to hide its crimes from the international community’s scrutiny.
“In desperation, they have turned their guns on innocent civilians across Line of Control in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and at Working Boundary in Pakistani territory,” he said.
The Spokesman said India’s unprovoked firing had taken a huge toll on innocent civilians and condemned continued atrocities in IoK and unprovoked ceasefire violations killing and injuring civilians.
“India uses allegations of infiltrations to maliciously portray the indigenous Kashmiri movement for self-determination as terrorism,” he said.
He mentioned that Indian false claims of infiltration stood exposed when unnamed and unmarked mass graves were discovered in 2009 and when the gruesome incident of ‘Machil fake encounter’ in 2010 revealed the truth.
Details of mass graves case can be seen in the International People’s Tribunal Report of November 2009, he added.
To a question on Afghan woman Sharbat Gula arrested in Pakistan on overstay, the Spokesman said court had rejected her bail.
He mentioned that Gula’s case was dealt on humanitarian grounds with no strict action taken against her, adding she was at present admitted at a hospital. However, he made it clear that the woman had violated the law of land and would be dealt with accordingly.
