Three Indian High Commission officials declared persona non grata leave Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Three out of seven Indian High Commission officials declared persona non grata by Pakistan have left for their home country.

The other four officials will leave for India via road by Wagah Border today.

Pakistan had ordered expulsion of the seven Indian High Commission officials from Pakistan over charges of spying.

According to sources, the three officials, First Secretary commercial Anurag Singh, Vijay Kumar Varma and Mandhawan Nanda Kumar left from Islamabad Airport at 9:00 AM via flight number EK 613.

Diplomatic sources confirmed that initially they were expected to leave on Sunday however due to incomplete documents their travel plans were delayed.

Rajesh Kumar Ragni Hotri, Balbair Singh, Amardeep Singh Bhatti, Jiya Balin and Dharmendra will travel by road.

The expelled officials were employed by Indian intelligence agency RAW and were posing as diplomats.

Alleged agent of Indian spy agency RAW, Rajesh Kumar Agnihotri was stationed at the Indian High Commission in Pakistan in the garb of Commercial Counselor, according to sources. He was reportedly running a network of individuals involved in subversive activities in Pakistan.

Another officer of Indian secret agency IB, Balbir Singh, was stationed in Pakistan as First Secretary Press Information. He is believed to be involved in destabilising the country through a network of IB officials.

Amarjeet Singh Bhatti who was working as a visa attaché, Vijay Kumar and Mundhawan Nanda Kumar who were all stationed at the Indian High Commission are also said to be RAW agents. 

According to sources, Indian diplomatic official Surjeet Singh who was recently expelled by Pakistan was also part of Balbair Singh’s network.

Surjeet Singh had possessed a fake card of a mobile phone company under the name ‘Abdul Hafeez’, sources said, adding that more names of spies posing as diplomats at the Indian High Commission would be revealed soon.

According to sources, two more Indian officials are due to leave the country on Wednesday at 3am.

A history of spying 

Prior to this a number of Indian spies have been spotted and arrested in Pakistan during the course of the country's enmity with its neighbour.

Earlier this year Kulbhushan Yadav, a serving Indian navy officer, was arrested from Balochistan while spying for RAW.

Another high-profile Indian spy caught in Pakistan was Ravindra Kaushik (1952–1999), who was sent across the border in 1975 on a mission after extensive training in Delhi for two years. He had kept on passing valuable information to RAW from 1979 to 1983.

In September 1983, Indian intelligence agencies had sent a low-level operative, Inayat Masih, to get in touch with Kaushik. But the agent was caught by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies and had revealed Kaushik's true identity during probe.