Picture for representation only.Islamabad: The identity of eight officials of the Indian High Commission, who were described as 'undercover operatives', was made public in the Pakistani media along with their photographs on Thursday - in the latest tit-for-tat action amid raging Indo-Pak tensions.
The Indian government 'strongly protested' the manner in which names of the Indian officials were published in the media.
After Pakistan pulled out six of its officials in the wake of a spy scandal involving staffers of its High Commission in New Delhi, sources in the External Affairs Ministry Wednesday said India was mulling withdrawal of eight of its diplomats as their security has been 'completely compromised'.
However, Pakistani media Thursday identified at least eight Indian staffers and accused them of 'anti-Pakistan activities'.
The latest tit-for-tit naming of officials coincided with raging tension between India and Pakistan following the Uri terror attack and India's retaliatory surgical strikes across the LoC that pushed the bilateral ties to a new low.
First two Indian officials were named Wednesday afternoon but by late night, the number soared to eight.
According to a report in Dawn, the "alleged Indian intelligence personnel whose cover was blown in the media leak", are Rajesh Kumar Agnihotri , commercial counsellor in the Indian High Commission; Balbir Singh, First Secretary, Press and Culture; Anurag Singh First Secretary, Commercial; Amardeep Singh Bhatti, Visa Attache; Dharmedra; Vijay Kumar Verma and Madhavan Nanda Kumar (Visa Assistants); and Jayabalan Senthil, Assistant, Personnel Welfare Office.
India rejects charges
Rejecting the allegations by Pakistan, India's External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup Thursday said in Delhi, "We completely reject baseless and unsubstantiated allegations made by Pakistan against certain officials of the Indian HC in Islamabad. These are crude attempts to target the officials."
“Whatever decision to be taken on the Indian officials in Islamabad will be based on their security. We have not yet recalled any of those officials, only one was declared persona non grata,” Swarup added.
Dawn said the media leak claimed that the officials were working either for the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) or the Indian Intelligence Bureau.
However, no Foreign Office official in Pakistan was available to confirm the media leak - which began with the electronic media - or give its details, the report said.
On the other hand, India said that the details of the eight Indian officers being published in the Pakistani media compromises their security, said sources in New Delhi.
'Indian agents'
According to Dawn, the "revealed Indian agents", according to the information leaked to the media, were, found to be involved in 'subversive activities', including attempts to disrupt the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and create fear and chaos in the country.
They are alleged to be building a network of informants within Pakistan and fabricating evidence for tarnishing the country's image abroad, it added.
It is expected that these agents would be declared persona non-grata by Pakistani authorities in the coming days or India would withdraw them, Dawn reported.
The leak - that has taken 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 claims that four diplomats were working for Pakistani intelligence services.
The withdrawn officers and staffers reached Lahore Wednesday.
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 that of a Pakistani High Commission official in New Delhi, Mehboob Akhtar, on charges of working for the Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency.
In March, Pakistan said it had arrested a 'serving Indian naval intelligence officer' Kulbhushan Jadhav in Balochistan for allegedly working for RAW.
Relations between the two rivals have been strained since the past few months, following the January 2 terror attack on the Pathankot air base, which India has blamed on terrorists from Pakistan, and the long unrest in Kashmir Valley, which India has accused Pakistan of fomenting.
The September 18 terror attack on an army camp in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, that left 19 soldiers dead has flared tensions, an attack that India blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
India has said it carried out "surgical strikes" on terror launch pads in Pakistan as retribution.
(With agency inputs)
