ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan on Thursday named eight Indian diplomats it accuses of espionage and terrorism, as tension mounted between the nuclear-armed 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.

In response, India said it “completely rejected the baseless and unsubstantiated allegations” leveled by Pakistan against officials at its high commission in Islamabad.

Rajesh Kumar Agnihotri, a commercial counselor, was named by the Pakistan foreign ministry as RAW’s station chief in Islamabad.

The foreign ministry statement gave an eight-point list of the diplomats’ espionage activities.

It accused them of fuelling instability in Pakistan’s Sindh and Baluchistan provinces, as well as sabotaging its most vital economic project, the $46-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), 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 western neighbor 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It was not immediately clear if the diplomats would be expelled by Pakistan or withdrawn by India, which condemned the publication of their names and images and called on Pakistan to ensure their safety.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The foreign ministry also said Pakistan had withdrawn six diplomats from its mission in India after Indian media reported they had been involved in spying.

Vikas Swarup, spokesman of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, told a news briefing that Islamabad had withdrawn its diplomats after some were named by the Pakistani embassy worker that it had expelled last week.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 Swarup, adding that Pakistan’s actions added to security risks in the region.

India summoned the Pakistani deputy high commissioner on Wednesday to express its “grave concern and strong protest” over the denouncement of its diplomats in Islamabad.

On the same day, the press wing of Pakistan’s military said India had violated a 2003 ceasefire in Kashmir 178 times this year, killing 19 civilians.

Artillery duels and skirmishing have recently intensified along the disputed frontier running through the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

In July, Indian-administered Kashmir erupted in protests that led to a crackdown by security forces after they killed a young separatist leader.

In September, gunmen killed 19 Indian soldiers at an army camp in an attack New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

Later that month, India said it carried out “surgical strikes” on the Pakistani side of the border, but Islamabad called this a fabrication to distract attention from its continuing crackdown in Kashmir.</s>ISLAMABAD: Pakistan yesterday named eight Indian diplomats it accuses of espionage and terrorism, as tensions mounted between the nuclear-armed 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.

Rajesh Kumar Agnihotri, a commercial counsellor, was named by the Pakistan foreign ministry as RAW’s station chief in Islamabad. The foreign ministry statement gave an eight point list of the diplomats espionage activities.

It accused them of fuelling instability in Pakistan’s Sindh and Baluchistan provinces, as well as sabotaging its most vital economic project, the US$46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), involving transport and energy infrastructure projects to link China with Pakistan’s coast on Arabian Sea.

They were also accused the men of liaising with factions of the Pakistani Taliban and of working to damage Pakistan’s relations with western neighbour Afghanistan. It was not immediately clear if the diplomats would be expelled by Pakistan or withdrawn by India.

India’s foreign ministry was not immediately available to comment. A spokesman was to brief reporters later yesterday during his weekly press event.”

Last week, India and Pakistan both expelled one diplomat from each other’s embassies, accusing them of spying. The foreign ministry also said Pakistan has withdrawn six diplomats from its mission in India after Indian media reported that they had been involved in spying. — AFP</s>India and Pakistan are withdrawing all of their diplomats from each other’s countries as the risk of nuclear war looms.

According to Vikas Swarup, the spokesman of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi has withdrawn eight diplomats stationed in Islamabad due to the escalating tensions between the two countries.

The Indian official said the main reason for the withdrawal was their identification in the local media as suspected spies.

“They have put in the public domain eight names and six of these people went today. We will eventually withdraw all eight,” Swarup said, adding that the diplomats had been “completely compromised” after their names and pictures were put in the public domain.

The decision came hours after reports said Pakistan had been planning the expulsion of five Indian diplomats on suspicion of espionage. They said Pakistani authorities had uncovered an alleged “network of Indian spy agencies” working at the Indian embassy in Islamabad and that they were awaiting an approval by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to expel a number of Indian diplomats.

Sources in Islamabad and New Delhi said on Wednesday that Pakistan had also withdrawn six of its diplomats from India.

Swarup confirmed that the Pakistani diplomats had left the Indian capital earlier in the day, rejecting claims in the media that they were expelled.

The diplomatic tension began last week when India ordered one employee of the Pakistani High Commission out of the country, saying he was a suspected spy. Islamabad reacted in a tit-for-tat move and expelled one of India’s envoys.

The two countries have also been at odds over the past months regarding the conflict in Indian-controlled Kashmir. The heavily-guarded area saw a protest by the majority Muslim population in July, when a popular pro-independence fighter was killed by Indian forces. India blamed the surge in unrest on Pakistan, saying Islamabad sent militants to the Himalayan region to trigger more violence. Cross-border clashes then unfolded between the two sides, resulting in dozens of casualties. The latest of such clashes beginning last weekend left nearly 20 people dead from the two sides.</s>Pakistan may expel five Indian diplomats for espionage and has revealed their names, local media said on Wednesday, a move sure to exacerbate a rift between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours that has been widening for months.

Pakistan declined to comment on the matter ahead of a planned news conference on Thursday, while India said the identity of eight of its diplomats had been revealed by Pakistani media.

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

Swarup also said six Pakistani diplomats had left the Indian capital on Wednesday but said they had not been expelled.

Last week India ordered one employee of the Pakistani embassy, known as a High Commission, to leave the country on suspicion of espionage, triggering the expulsion of one of its own envoys by Islamabad.

The diplomatic spat comes after months of sharply deteriorating relations that began with civil unrest in Indian-controlled Kashmir and Pakistan’s global lobbying against New Delhi’s crackdown on the Kashmiri activists.

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

India said it had carried out “surgical strikes” inside Pakistan as retribution, but Islamabad denied they even took place and accused New Delhi of fabrication to distract attention from its crackdown on the protests in the part of Kashmir it controls.

Artillery duels and skirmishing along the disputed frontier that runs through Kashmir have escalated in recent days, leading India to summon the Pakistani deputy high commissioner on Wednesday to express its “grave concern and strong protest”.

In a statement, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs accused Pakistan of violations of a 2003 ceasefire that have caused several fatalities and injuries among its civilians and security forces.

New Delhi also protested against the alleged mutilation of the body of an Indian soldier by an attacker who escaped across the Line of Control after “committing this heinous crime”.

Both sides typically refute the other’s version of events. On Wednesday the press wing of the Pakistani military said India had committed 178 ceasesfire violations this year, killing 19 civilians and injuring 80 more.</s>India said on Wednesday that the identities of eight of its diplomats in Pakistan had been revealed in the local media, amid continuing tensions between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors.

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

He also said six Pakistani diplomats had left the Indian capital on Wednesday, but that they were not expelled. India ordered one employee of the Pakistani High Commission out of the country last week on suspicion of espionage, triggering a tit-for-tat expulsion of one of its own envoys by Islamabad.</s>ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani and Indian officials say Pakistan has withdrawn 6 of its diplomats from New Delhi amid increasing tension.</s>ISLAMABAD (AP) — Two Pakistani officials and an Indian spokesman say Pakistan has withdrawn six of its diplomats working at the Pakistani embassy in New Delhi amid increasing tension between the two countries over the disputed Kashmir territory.

The two Pakistani officials said Pakistan has unearthed a “network of Indian spy agencies” working at the Indian embassy in Islamabad. They said authorities have sought Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s approval to expel some Indian diplomats.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue.

In New Delhi, Vikas Swarup, the Indian External Affairs Ministry’s spokesman, confirmed that six Pakistani diplomats flew back to Islamabad on Wednesday as after being withdrawn by their government.

Last week, each side expelled one of the other government’s diplomats as well.</s>An Indian municipal worker sweeps the road outside Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016. Pakistan has reportedly pulled out six staff members from its High Commission in New Delhi. Troops from the two countries have regularly traded fire since last month, when India said it carried out "surgical strikes" against militants in the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir. Pakistan dismissed the claim and called on India to produce evidence to back it up. The tensions have also escalated at the government level, and last week each nation expelled a diplomat. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)</s>NEW DELHI: India on Thursday blasted Pakistan for leveling fanciful accusations against Indian High Commission’s 8 diplomats, which New Delhi termed against norms of diplomatic practice and courtesy.

MEA spokesman Vikas Swarup in his weekly media briefing completely reject “the baseless and unsubstantiated allegations made by Pakistan against certain officials of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. The Government categorically denies those allegations,” he said.

He said it was especially regrettable that Pakistani authorities have chosen to level these allegations after deciding to recall, on their own, six officials of the Pakistan High Commission, some of whom may have been named to Indian authorities by Mehmood Akhtar – the PHC official caught red handed last week while indulging in anti-India activities. The allegations against the Indian officials represent an after-thought and a crude attempt to target these officials for no fault of theirs, the spokesman said.

Swarup regretted the fact that Pakistan’s step adds to the risks to peace and security in the region emanating from Pakistan’s support to cross-border terrorism against its neighbours, its complete denial of the problem and deflection of its responsibility by resorting to fanciful accusations.

“We also note that the Indian officials falsely implicated were working in the fields of promoting people-to-people and trade and economic contacts between the two countries. Pakistan’s false allegations against them have the potential to adversely affect the corresponding activities of the High Commission,” he said.

The Government also protests strongly the manner in which names and photos of the eight Indian officials, – four of them holders of diplomatic passport- have been published. This is against basic norms of diplomatic practice and courtesy, he said.

The named diplomats are likely to be pulled out of Islamabad. The MEA spokesman said that the allegations against the Indian official are prejudicial to their safety and security.

He demanded Pakistan to take all necessary steps to ensure the security and safety of not only these eight diplomats and officials but all other members of the High Commission and their families while they are in Pakistan.

On the question of their return to India, he said this is procedural matter. “Government will take all necessary further steps keeping all aspects of the situation in view,” he said.</s>India-Pakistan ties hit new low over ‘spying’ allegations, ‘tit for tat’ moves

India-Pakistan relations tumbled to a new low as Islamabad on Thursday named eight Indian High Commission officials for alleged spying, which India rejected as “baseless and unsubstantiated” and as part of the neighbours’s “tit for tat” move after a Pakistani official was caught “red-handed” for spying.

As the Pakistani media flashed the names and photographs of the eight Indian officials in Islamabad, which the Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria confirmed later, in New Delhi, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup said India “protests strongly” against Islamabad’s move to publicly name and put up photographs of the officials, four of who are diplomatic passport holders.

“This is against basic norms of diplomatic practice and courtesy,” he said.

Rejecting Pakistan’s allegations of the men as belonging to Indian intelligence agencies RAW and IB, Swarup said: “We completely reject the baseless and unsubstantiated allegations made by Pakistan against certain officials of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. The government categorically denies those allegations.”

He also said that Mehmood Akhtar, the Pakistan High Commission official who was detained last week for allegedly running a spy network as part of the Inter Services Intelligence, has revealed “sensitive information” about “anti-India activities” being carried out with connivance of Pakistan High Commission officials.

Swarup said it was “regrettable” that Pakistani authorities chose to level these allegations against the Indians after deciding to recall, “on their own”, six officials of the Pakistan High Commission.

He said some of them “may have been named” by Akhtar, who was caught “red handed last week while indulging in anti-India activities”.

Asked about revelations made by Akhtar, Swarup said he has “revealed to us rather sensitive information about the kind of anti-India activities that were going on in this country with the connivance of officials of the Pakistan High Commission and our security agencies are currently seized of the matter and we will get to the bottom of it”.

The spokesperson totally rejected the allegations against the Indian officials by Islamabad.

“The allegations against the Indian officials represent an after-thought and a crude attempt to target these officials for no fault of theirs,” he said.

“We regard this as an unfortunate incident. Pakistan is resorting to tit for tat without any real case against these officials, and we hope that such incidents do not recur in the future.”

Asked if the eight officials will be brought back, Swarup said the Indian government will take a decision soon “keeping their safety in mind”.

“A decision will be taken by government keeping their safety in mind. It is a procedural issue, and a decision will be taken soon,” he said.

The spokesperson added that the officials there were working on promoting peace between India and Pakistan.

“We expect the Pakistan government to take all steps to ensure the safety of these officials,” Swarup said.

Pakistan said the eight Indian High Commission officials were involved in “coordinating terrorist and subversive activities in Pakistan”, a day after six Pakistani officials of the high commission in New Delhi were called back.

Zakaria, in his weekly press briefing, named the Indian officials as Rajesh Kumar Agnihotri, Commerical Counsellor “and RAW station chief”, Anurag Singh, First Commercial Secretary, Amardeep Singh Bhatti, Attache Visa, Dharmendra Sodhi, staff member, Vijay Kumar Verma, staff, Madhavan Nanda Kumar, staff, and “suspected IB operatives”, Balbir Singh, First Secretary – Press and Information and “IB station chief”, Jayabalan Senthil, Assistant Personnel Welfare Officer.

“All these eight officials were involved in espionage, subversion and supporting of terrorist activities,” he said.

The FO spokesman also said that the Indian diplomatic staff “also handled Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) factions”.

Last week, Pakistan had declared Indian High Commission official Surjeet Singh persona non grata and given him 48 hours to leave the country. Singh’s expulsion followed within hours of Mehboob Akhtar’s expulsion.

In March, Pakistan said it had arrested a “serving Indian naval intelligence officer” Kulbhushan Jadhav in Balochistan for allegedly working for RAW. India however said that he was no longer in service.

Swarup termed the support to terror by Pakistan as the root cause of problems between the two nations.

“Root cause of problem between India and Pakistan is Pakistan’s support to cross border terrorism and its promotion as an element of state policy.

“It is important for Pakistan to desist from those policies which are failed policies which have led to its diplomatic isolation… Unless that happens relationship between two countries will continue to remain like this,” he said.
Pakistan accuses eight Indian diplomats of espionage and terrorism amid rising tensions concerning Kashmir. India said it rejects these allegations. The six Pakistani diplomats withdrawn from India last week were reported to have been accused of spying.