Speaking at a Youm-i-Shuhada event earlier today, Commander Southern Command said the RAW agent apprehended earlier this week had contacts with separatist elements in Balochistan and was involved in a number of terrorist and subversive activities in the province.
In fact a day after security forces claimed the arrest of a suspected Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) agent in Balochistan, Commander Southern Command Lt Gen Aamer Riaz out rightly accused elements sitting in London and Geneva of ‘hatching conspiracies against the stability of Pakistan’.
“Our enemies do not want development and prosperity in Balochistan,” said Lt Gen Aamer Riaz.
He further said that the people of the country need to understand the dangers faced by Pakistan.
“The geographical and ideological borders of Pakistan are being threatened,” added Riaz.
A man believed to be a serving officer in the Indian Navy and a member of the Indian intelligence agency RAW was arrested during a raid in Balochistan on Thursday.
The spy was linked to separatist elements in Balochistan, and was involved in acts of sectarian terrorism and terror attacks in Karachi, a security official had said, adding that the RAW officer had been shifted to Islamabad for interrogation.
Earlier today, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry lodged a strong protest with Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale over ‘India’s spying activities’ in Balochistan and Karachi, making it clear that this was unacceptable, Foreign Office sources said.
Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti on Thursday confirmed the arrest of the suspected Indian spy from the southern part of the province.
“The arrest has proved Indian involvement in Balochistan”, he said, adding that the spy was sponsoring terrorist and subversive activities in Balochistan.
Bugti had last year claimed RAW and Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) are funding and training Baloch Republican Army (BRA) militants.
Earlier this month, Indian newspaper reported that Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, after a meeting with India’s Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, had said an investigation team from Pakistan would visit India to probe the Pathankot air base attack on March 27.
The arrest of the suspected RAW officer comes just days before a possible meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington.
The Hindu quoted sources saying foreign secretaries of both countries, whose meeting to restart the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue (CBD) in January was derailed by the Pathankot attack, are also due to meet in Washington.
At the beginning of March, Aziz had said that foreign-secretary levels talks would resume after the probe team’s visit.
Pakistan and India had agreed to resume peace talks under the newly-coined phrase of CBD during Swaraj’s visit to Islamabad for the Heart of Asia Conference last year.
The dialogue was to take on matters related to peace and security, Jammu and Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, Wullar Barrage, Tulbul Navigation Project, economic and commercial cooperation, counter-terrorism, narcotics control and humanitarian issues, people to people exchanges and religious tourism.
