Pakistani diplomat Mehmood Akhtar's detention and his subsequent deportation for his active involvement in running an espionage racket is not the first instance when Indian agencies have nailed diplomats and staffers working at their New Delhi mission for anti-India activities.
In 2003, India had expelled Jaleel Abbas Gilani the then Deputy High Commissioner and Charge d'Affaires at New Delhi for his undesirable activities. Gilani was found to have funneled funds to All Parties Hurriyat Conference. Gilani's name was disclosed after Special Cell of Delhi Police intercepted Anjum Zamrooda Habib the chief of Muslim Khawateen Markaz Anjum (women wing of Hurriyat) with Rs 3,07,000 near Pakistani High Commission on February 6, 2003.
Four other diplomats Habibur Rehman, Aftab Ahmed, Abdul Razak and Mohammad Nazir were also asked to leave by the Indian Government for their involvement in providing funds to Hurriyat clandestinely.
Akhtar belongs to Baluch Regiment of Pakistani Army and was on deputation to notorious Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) since 2013. He was sent to New Delhi as a diplomat while his sole brief was to cultivate those who came to the visa section of the mission and then use them for getting sensitive documents pertaining to Indian security forces.
Akhtar was under surveillance for the last 18 months or so and has become hyper active after the terrorist attack at Indian Army's Uri base in Jammu region. He was reportedly directed by his seniors in the Pakistani Army and ISI to do something spectacular to avenge the surgical strikes by the India Army across the line of Control (lOC). Sources said security agencies were monitoring the movements of those who were in touch with Akhtar.
He was identified by the central security agencies after the Delhi Police arrested Kaifatullah Khan in the espionage case from New Delhi on November 26, 2015. Kaifatullah, a librarian in a higher secondary school in Jammu & Kashmir's Rajouri area intercepted by Delhi Police Crime Branch while he was on his way to 'Bhopal Ijtema', an annual religious gathering, where he was allegedly supposed to scout for information and possible recruits.
Kaiftullah's interrogation has led the security agency to a staffer of Pakistani High Commission at New Delhi.
A surveillance was mounted on those who were in touch with this Pakistani diplomat as the Indian agencies believed there was a strong possibility ISI agents had penetrated quite deep into the Indian Army and others security forces.
Akhtar was found to be in touch with Kaifatullah and others who were involved in procuring sensitive documents pertaining to the deployment and movement of Indian security forces.
It may be recalled that a serving BSF trooper identified as Abdul Rasheed and a former Army Havildar Munawwar Ahmad Mir were alos arrested on the basis of disclosures. Police had then arrested Sabar a school teacher from his rented house in Rajouri district in Jammu & Kashmir.
Security forces arrested Fareed 5th accused Siliguri in West Bengal. Fareed was posted in the J&K light infantry regiment. Investigations had then revealed that Sabar, had introduced him to Kaifatullah in 2014. Fareed operated in the code name 'Surgeon’.
When asked about the role of Akhtar who was posted in the visa section of the Pakistani High Commission, a senior Delhi Police official said he targeted those Indians who came for Pakistani visa and looked vulnerable. He was also actively involved in activating "sleeper cells" who were lying moribund in various parts of the country. He was also involved in arranging funds via Hawala channels for these sleeper cells as ISI was desperate to activate them for launching subversive strikes.
Earlier, Gilani, was declared persona non grata by the then Vajpayee Government for his activities that was not in consonance with his diplomatic duties.
His name had surfaced after the Delhi Police arrested Zamrooda Habib and Shabbir Ahmed Dar the Delhi based spokesperson of Hurriyat. Habib was tailed by the Delhi Police on the basis of specific intelligence input after she came out from the Pakistani High Commission in Delhi with money given to her for then Hurriyat Chairman Abdul Ghani Bhat.
During interrogation, she had named the then Pakistan's Deputy High Commissioner Jaleel Abbas Gilani and said she was referred to him by Hurriyat chairman Abdul Gani Bhat and Hurriyat spokesman Shabir Ahmed Dar.
Subsequently Hurriyat's office in Malviya Nagar was raided and Rs 2 lakh was recovered with propaganda material, a senior police official said.
We have sent reports about the activities of certain staffers and diplomats of the officials at Pakistan High Commission who indulge in activities beyond their diplomatic brief, a senior Delhi Police official said on Thursday.