New Delhi: India declared on Thursday Pakistan High Commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar “persona non-grata”, and asked him to leave the country with his family in 48 hours, a day after he and two Indian co-conspirators were caught in Delhi on espionage charges.
He was detained for questioning but released because he enjoys diplomatic immunity. Foreign secretary S. Jaishankar summoned Pakistan high commissioner Abdul Basit, informed him of what had happened and “strongly conveyed that no High Commission member can indulge in such activities.
Pakistan rejected the charges and condemned the Indian action, accusing India of trying to “shrink diplomatic space for the working of the Pakistan High Commission”.
Pakistan alleged that the staffer had been “lifted and manhandled”. But India swiftly clarified that he had been “treated with utmost courtesy”, adding that the Vienna Convention (for protection of diplomats) had been fully adhered to.
Pointing out that Akhtar “was caught red-handed”, New Delhi said, “We are happy that we nipped the ISI spy ring in the bud.” Akhtar had been working as an assistant to Pakistan’s counselor (Trade) Farukh Habib in the High Commission. He and the two Indian accomplices were picked up from the Delhi Zoo.
With speculation being rife that more Pakistan High Commission employees could be involved in the espionage ring, sources said investigations were continuing and that there could be more arrests.
When asked why Akhtar was released, sources in the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said he may not be a diplomat in the “traditional sense” and may not even have a diplomatic passport but said he was allowed to go as he “enjoyed some level of diplomatic immunity” on account of being a staffer at the high commission.
Sources in the Delhi police told news agencies that they did not rule out possible involvement of some BSF personnel in the racket, as they believe Akhtar and his accomplices could not have got hold of security deployment details unless somebody in the border force was leaking them.
When caught, Akhtar first identified himself as Mehmood Rajput of Chandni Chowk, but the Aadhaar card he produced turned out to be fake. He admitted that he had joined the Baloch regiment of the Pakistan Army in 1997 and came on deputation to the ISI in 2013. He was posted in September 2013 to the Pakistan High Commission.
He recruited Indians for spying and sent information to Pakistan. The module had been active for 18 months, and came on police radar six months ago. Last year, the police busted an ISI spy ring in the Pakistan High Commission and arrested five persons.
