India says its officials 'falsely implicated' by Pakistan

India on Thursday criticised Pakistan's "tit for tat" move to name eight Indian officials posted at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad for "anti-Pakistan activities", and said the officials have been "falsely implicated".

"We regard this as an unfortunate incident. Pakistan is resorting to tit for tat without any real case against these officials, and we hope that such incidents do not recur in the future," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

The spokesperson said the allegations were "false" and had the potential to affect the activities of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

"We expelled only one person from India for anti-India activities. After that Pakistan decided to withdraw on its own six of their staffers. And then they decided to put in the public domain details of eight of our diplomats and officials whose safety and security has been completely compromised," he said.

Asked if the eight officials will be brought back, Swarup said the Indian government will take a decision soon "keeping their safety in mind".

"A decision will be taken by government keeping their safety in mind. It is a procedural issue, and a decision will be taken soon," he said.

The spokesperson added that the officials there were working on promoting peace between India and Pakistan.

"We expect the Pakistan government to take all steps to ensure the safety of these officials," Swarup said.

Pakistan on Thursday named eight officials of the Indian High Commission who it alleged were involved in "subversive activities", a day after six Pakistani officials of the high commission in New Delhi were called back.

--IANS

ao/rn/vt