Pakistan yesterday accused eight Indian embassy employees of involvement in spying and terrorism but stopped short of expelling them, in the latest apparent tit-for-tat move as relations between the two countries nosedive, reports AFP from Islamabad. The declaration came days after a similar move by New Delhi, which accused six Pakistani diplomats of being part of a spy network, forcing Islamabad to withdraw them from their posts.
“A number of Indian diplomats and staff...have been found involved in coordinating terrorist and subversive activities in Pakistan under the garb of diplomatic assignments,” foreign ministry spokesman Nafees Zakariya told a press briefing in Islamabad. He went on to name the eight men including one accused of using a false identity to pose as an employee of a Pakistani mobile network.
“All these eight officials were involved in espionage, subversion and supporting of terrorist activities,” he said.
Tensions between India and Pakistan have soared since a raid last month killed 19 soldiers on an Indian army base near the de-facto border dividing the disputed Kashmir region, the worst such attack in more than a decade.