Worried India set to call back 8 officials from Pak

PAKISTANI MEDIA SHOWS PHOTOS OF THE INDIAN DIPLOMATS, DESCRIBES TWO AS SPIES; IDENTITY LEAKED AFTER MEHMOOD AKHTAR SPYING EPISODE

NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD: Safety concerns could prompt India to bring back eight officials from its high commission in Islamabad after six members of the Pakistani mission in New Delhi left for home on Wednesday, taking ties to a fresh low amid heightened tensions.

The safety of the Indian diplomats was compromised as their identities were posted online and their photos flashed by Pakistani news channels. The Pakistani media described two of the officials as spies and quoted sources as saying that they were involved in espionage and “subversive activities”.

The standoff follows unrelenting Pakistani shelling in the border areas of Jammu and Kashmir over the past fortnight, resulting in heavy civilian fatalities. At least 20 people, including children, were killed as Pakistani troops pounded Flagged off Phase 2 of Rahul’s Kisan Sandesh Yatra to consolidate gains in farming community border areas with mortar shells.

Official sources in New Delhi said the identities of the Indian officials were leaked to Pakistani media shortly after a video emerged of the interrogation by Delhi Police of Mehmood Akhtar, a Pakistan high commission official arrested and expelled last week on charges of spying.

In the video, Akhtar is seen naming six more Pakistani officials as members of the spying ring. These six officials, including four of the rank of first secretary, were the ones who left India with their families on Wednesday.

The sources also questioned 4 Parivartan Rath Yatras — first on Saturday — with convertible, GPRSenabled, chariot-shaped minibuses UP CM Akhilesh Yadav to launch Vikas Yatra in a 10-wheeler Mercedes chariot on Thursday, to be flagged off by party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. Akhilesh Sena to show short films on welfare schemes. >> P8 Delhi Police’s decision to release the video to the media. It is believed that this had resulted in tit-for-tat leaks to the Pakistani media.

Pakistani TV channels and news websites initially ran stories that described Indian commercial counselor Rajesh Agnihotri and press secretary Balbir Singh as intelligence agents. Later, names of six more Indian officials were made public.

Sources said the news reports had raised serious concerns about the safety of the eight Indian officials, especially as their photos were flashed on TV at a time of heightened tensions. This would make it easy for forces inimical to India to identify them in public, the sources added.

Though there was no official word, the sources said the officials would have to be called back as “there is a clear danger to their lives”.

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