Three out of eight Indian High Commission officials suspected of involvement in terrorist and subversive activities in Pakistan left for India on Tuesday.
Anurag Singh, Vijay Kumar Verma and Madhavan Nanda Kumar, allegedly members of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), left for India earlier today on flight EK613 via Dubai.
Rajesh Kumar, Amerdeep Singh Bhatti, Dharmendra Sodhi, who are also alleged members of RAW, are still in Pakistan, along with Balbir Singh and Jayabalan Senthil, who are said to be Indian Intelligence Bureau (IB) operatives.
The FO during a press briefing last week revealed details of the eight Indian 'diplomats' in Pakistan, saying that a number of "Indian diplomats and staff belonging to Indian intelligence agencies RAW and IB have been found involved in coordinating terrorist and subversive activities in Pakistan under the garb of diplomatic assignments."
The FO said the alleged RAW and IB officials are suspected of handling Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) factions, fueling secatarianism in Pakistan and creating unrest in Balochistan, Sindh, and Gilgit-Balistan (GB).
"They [India] are desperate to hide their crimes against humanity from the international community’s scrutiny," the FO had said.
Details of the alleged activities of the suspected RAW and IB operatives provided by the FO earlier are as follows:
- Espionage, subversion, supporting of terrorist activities and fueling instability in Balochistan and Sindh, especially Karachi
- Sabotage of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
- Creating unrest in GB
- Expanding network of operatives and agents under guise of commercial activities
- Leveraging positions as diplomats for ingress into influential circles for gathering inside information
- Damaging Pak-Afghan relations through a variety of activities
- Infiltrating Indian agents into social, media and political circles for propaganda purposes and activities detrimental to Pakistan’s interests
- Fabrication of evidence to portray Pakistan as a state sponsor of terrorism
- Handling factions of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan
- Instigation of religious minorities
- Fueling sectarianism
- Maligning Pakistan with propaganda on human rights issues
- Activities in Azad Jammu and Kashmir detrimental to the Kashmir cause
- Misleading the international community about the indigenous movement for self determination in held Kashmir
'Most significant exposé of undercover agents'
The posting of undercover officers is a routine practice in inter-state relations.
The leak that took the confrontation between the two countries to a new peak came after Pakistan was forced to pull out six of its officers and staff posted at the high commission in New Delhi because of Indian allegations that four diplomats were working for Pakistani intelligence services. The withdrawn officers and staffers reached Lahore on Wednesday.
The leak about Indian undercover agents is one of the most significant exposé relating to undercover agents since the US Central Intelligence Agency was forced to pull out its station chief Jonathan Banks in December 2010 after his identity was revealed in a law suit by victims of drone attacks.
In 2010, an Indian undercover set-up was also partially revealed after India arrested one of its own high commission officers for working for the ISI.
Never before has the cover of such a large number of agents been blown in one instance.
