NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD, 22 October 2006 — Indian police arrested an army sergeant yesterday in New Delhi as he handed classified military documents to a Pakistan Embassy employee, triggering a strong protest from Islamabad.
Anil Kumar Dubey, who police said worked in the army’s insurance directorate, was detained on Friday, Deputy Commissioner of Police Alok Kumar told Reuters.
“Dubey, a sergeant in the Indian Army was arrested while passing classified documents to Mohammad Farooq of the Pakistan High Commission,” Kumar said.
A police statement said Dubey had been “collecting information regarding the movement and deployment of the Indian Army and transmitting sensitive and secret information regarding the Indian Army to a hostile foreign agent.”
It said Farooq was an agent of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) posted at the country’s mission in New Delhi.
Farooq was caught accepting secret defense documents and computer CDs from Dubey in southwest New Delhi, the statement said, something it alleged had been going on for four or five months in return for money.
A source in the Indian government confirmed the arrest but gave no further information. Farooq was handed over to the Pakistani officials after all legal formalities were completed, Kumar said.
Pakistan’s High Commission issued a strong protest. “The government of Pakistan has lodged a strong protest with the Indian government over the illegal detention and manhandling of Mohammad Farooq, a driver of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, by the Indian security personnel,” it said in a statement.
“The harassment of the Pakistani official is a violation of international conventions as well as the diplomatic norms.”
Islamabad said India had fabricated the spying story to cover up the harassment of a Pakistani national.
“Now, we have made it public that they took away our driver and he was kept there till 1 o’clock in the morning, so they have come up with this story,” said Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam.
Indian police said a case had been registered against Dubey under the Official Secrets Act.
In August, Pakistan ordered the expulsion of an Indian diplomat for suspected involvement in spying. India responded by throwing out a Pakistani diplomat.
The expulsions were seen as a sign of deepening mistrust after the Bombay bombings which killed more than 180 in July. Indian police accused Pakistan-based militants of being behind the attacks, backed by the ISI. Pakistan denies the charge.
The two sides have since agreed to resume foreign secretary talks in mid-November. South Asia’s rivals have fought three wars since independence in 1947 and went to the brink of a fourth in 2002.
They launched their tentative peace process at the start of 2004 but have yet to make any substantial progress toward a solution of their core dispute over the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir.
