Pakistan on Thursday underscored its longstanding concerns about the Indian sabotage network and espionage activities, saying arrest of Indian spies recently in Qatar bore testimony to the New Delhi’s involvement in espionage and sabotage networks operating in various countries, especially in Middle East and other regions.
At the weekly press briefing on Thursday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch noted that reports of death sentences handed down to Indian Navy officers in Qatar would have sent shockwaves through India’s Ministry of External Affairs.
The foreign office spokesperson pointed to the 2016 arrest of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, a senior Indian Navy officer, on charges of sabotage and espionage within Pakistan, as a significant example of such activities.
Qatar’s recent court verdict sentenced eight former Indian Navy officials to death for serious espionage charges, accusing them of spying for Israel and working for the Indian intelligence agency, RAW. They were reportedly caught carrying out espionage activities in Qatar, providing Israel with details of Qatar’s secret programme to purchase advanced submarines from Italy.
“This episode also shows India’s reckless and irresponsible conduct in clear violation of international law and the UN principle of state sovereignty”, she pointed out, adding it calls into question India’s reliability as a credible partner.
