Pakistan seeks from Iran information on Indian spy

Islamabad on Thursday asked Tehran to probe and share with it details of the activities in Iran of alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, who has been arrested in Pakistan.

The Pakistan government, in a letter addressed to Iranian ambassador Mehdi Honardoost in Islamabad, also urged Tehran to arrest Jadhav's colleague, who it identified as RAW officer Rakesh alias Rizwan.

Islamabad says Jadhav, arrested in Balochistan earlier in March, was a serving officer in the Indian Navy and directing subversive activities in Karachi and Balochistan "at the behest of RAW".

India says Jadhav is formerly from the Indian Navy, not a spy.

In a so-called confessional video aired by Islamabad, Jadhav said that he established a small business in Chabahar in Iran and used that to visit Pakistan, Dawn newspaper reported.

The letter to the Iranian ambassador sought information about "details of RAW networks on Iranian soil and any other details related to it".

A copy of the letter obtained by Dawn said Pakistan "expects Iran to seriously look at Islamabad's assertions and take every step to stem incursion of Indian spies into Pakistani territory".

The daily said that Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar raised with Iranian dignitaries the issue of "Indian saboteurs" using Iranian soil.

"Jadhav was covertly based in Chabahar, Iran, under the pretext of a jeweller/businessman. He was assisted by RAW sub-inspector Rakesh alias Rizwan, a key operative who was also working undercover as a businessman dealing in jewellery.

"Jadhav had an Iranian visa along with an Indian passport," it said. "And he had crossed over to Balochistan's Mashkhel area from Saravan, Iran."

The letter said Jadhav's mission "included spying and sabotage, in addition to fomenting insecurity and instability in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan".

Iran's cooperation in this regard, the letter said, would improve relations between Tehran and Islamabad and also help reduce terrorism and unrest in the region.

"Pakistan has persistently maintained that the Indian state is sponsoring terrorism, sabotage and subversion in the country.

"The government has presented dossiers of such evidence to the United Nations on Indian involvement in Balochistan.

"But this evidence is unattended to as the world body has paid no attention to it," the letter said.