Pakistani Minister Says Indian Agent Not Linked with Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Pakistan’s Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Sunday that the recent arrest of a suspected Indian spy “has nothing to do” with Iran.
“Iran has nothing to do with the activities of Indian intelligence network. Pakistan and Iran are tied through decade long religious, social, cultural and political bonds, and nothing can come in way of our relations,” Nisar Ali Khan said as cited by Daily Times.
He further urged Pakistani media to avoid linking the arrest of the spy with Iran, describing Iran-Pakistan relations as “brotherly”.
Last month, Pakistan said it had detained the spy, Kulbhushan Jadhav, in the violence-plagued province of Baluchistan after he had illegally “entered the country from Iran”.
Pakistan says Jadhav was working for India’s main external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
However, India denied that the man was a spy and only confirmed he was a former navy official.
Pakistan had earlier claimed the Indian agent has confessed to “spying against Pakistan from Iran”.
In response to the claims, the Iranian embassy in Islamabad issued a statement on Friday and said unidentified elements were not happy with good ties between Iran and Pakistan and were trying to undermine them.
The latest developments came after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visited Pakistan last week and signed an agreement to increase annual trade volume between the two countries to $5 billion by 2021.
