Pakistan Seeks Iranian Help to Stop RAW's Ingress in Baluchistan

BY News Desk

ISLAMABAD: According to ISRP (media wing of Pakistan military), the involvement of India’s top spy agency in Balochistan was discussed in a meeting between Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif and Iranian President Hassan Rowhani.

Lt. Gen. Asim Bajwa tweeted following messages after the meeting.

Part Text COAS's conversation with Iran's President in today's mtng;"There is one concern that RAW is involved in Pak,spec Bln&sometimes-1

— Gen Asim Bajwa (@AsimBajwaISPR) March 26, 2016

also use the soil of our brother country,Iran.I request,they should be told to stop these activities &allow Pakistan to achieve stability"-2

— Gen Asim Bajwa (@AsimBajwaISPR) March 26, 2016

#COAS highlighted challenges being faced by Pak&discussed involvement of RAW in Pak's internal affairs specially in  Balochistan-3

— Gen Asim Bajwa (@AsimBajwaISPR) March 26, 2016

“Sometimes [RAW] also uses the soil of our brother country, Iran. I request they should be told to stop these activities and allow Pakistan to achieve stability,” he further quoted the army chief as saying in the meeting.

Though media reports suggest that Iranian president issued a contradictory statement after the meeting. Here it is worth noticing that Gen. Bajwa’s tweets came just minutes after President Rowhani issued his statement saying that the issue of RAW’s involvement in Pakistan was not discussed in his meetings with the Pakistani leadership.

“Today, we did not talk about it, rather we talked about how to expand [bilateral] ties,” Rowhani said when asked if the issue of India’s involvement in Pakistan was discussed in his interactions with the Pakistani leaders.

“Whenever Iran and Pakistan try to come close and intimate, some quarters create such rumours. We have heard about this issue some 20 times in the past. We have good ties with both India and Pakistan,” he added.

A RAW agent, identified as Kul Bhushan Yadav, was arrested in a raid near the Pak-Afghan border town of Chaman, in Balochistan, on Thursday, according to the provincial home minister, Sarfaraz Bugti. He said Yadav was Commander in the Indian Navy. “He was in contact with Baloch separatists and terrorists fuelling sectarian violence in Pakistan and Balochistan,” Bugti said.

On Friday, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry summoned the Indian high commissioner, Gautam Bambawale, to the Foreign Office to lodge a formal complaint.

New Delhi accepted Yadav had served the Indian Navy, but dismissed the allegations of espionage. Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said the detained individual “has no link with [the] government since his premature retirement from the Indian Navy.”