ISLAMABAD: Pakistan may expel two Indian diplomats in Islamabad for spying and has revealed their names, the latest tit-for-tat measure amid worsening ties between the neighbours.
According to sources, Rajesh Kumar Agnihotri has been identified as the 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. According to sources, the two diplomats had been facilitating and financing terrorism in Pakistan. Sources said that Rajesh Kumar was running a network of individuals involved in subversive activities in Pakistan, while Baler Singh, stationed in Pakistan as first secretary of press information, was involved in destabilising the country through a network of IB officials. According to sources, Indian diplomatic official Surjeet Singh, who was recently expelled by Pakistan, was also part of Baler Singh’s network. 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. India and Pakistan last week announced they would each expel one of the other’s diplomats over spying claims amid growing tensions. Relations between the two countries 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.
