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. 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. 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. 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.
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 The six Pakistani diplomats withdrawn from India last week were reported to have been accused of spying.