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India on Thursday asked a Pakistani High Commission staffer to leave the country, after he was allegedly caught spying by the Delhi Police.
The decision to declare Mehmood Akhtar persona non-grata was conveyed to Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar.
Basit had been summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs, its spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.
Akhtar was intercepted by Delhi Police on Wednesday while he was receiving a “sensitive document pertaining to the national security of India” from two persons, Swarup said. He said Akhtar was nabbed following intelligence inputs.
“Today, the Foreign Secretary summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit and informed him that India had intercepted an official of the Pakistan High Commission in the pursuit of espionage and that he was being declared persona non grata,” Swarup told reporters during a press briefing.
Akhtar is believed to have impersonated as an Indian national and even made procured a fake Aadhaar card.
However, he later admitted to being an employee of the Pakistan High Commission and requested that the mission be informed of the developments.
Akhtar said he had joined the Baloch Regiment of the Pakistan Army in 1997. In 2013, he was sent on deputation to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and in September that year he was posted at the Pakistan High Commission, where he was Assistant to Farukh Habib, Counsellor (Trade).
“We have busted the espionage ring and the ring-leader has been asked to leave in the next 48 hours…I am happy we have nipped ISI ring in the bud,” Swarup added.
The MEA said that in keeping with the accepted norms for treatment of members of the diplomatic mission, Akhtar was treated with “utmost courtesy” and handed over to a diplomat of the Pakistan High Commission.
Pakistan protests
Basit strongly protested the “detention and manhandling” of Pakistan High Commission staffer on Wednesday which he claimed was in violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention, the Pakistan Foreign Office said. He also strongly rejected the accusations, terming them “false and unsubstantiated”.
Retaliatory move
In a retaliatory move, Pakistan government also summoned Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale and ordered the expulsion of Indian High Commission official there Surjit Singh with his family by October 29.
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