Islamabad/New Delhi: Days after Indian agencies busted a massive Pakistan-sponsored plan to terrorise New Delhi following the arrest of at least 200 operatives from different cities, Islamabad rejected the accusations and brought up the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav, a retired Indian naval officer, who was kidnapped by Pakistan in March 2016. It urged the global diplomatic community to reject the claims made by India regarding Pakistan link to those arrested here.
Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi, in a late-night statement on Monday, accused New Delhi of using Pakistan-related assertions to "divert attention from its domestic security challenges". It mentioned Jadhav as an example of India’s espionage attempts— a claim New Delhi rejected multiple times, even at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Pakistani security forces claim Jadhav was arrested from Balochistan, even as he was kidnapped from Iran, where he owned a cargo business. Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on April 11, 2017. India, on May 8, 2017, approached the ICJ against Pakistan "for egregious violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963" in the matter.
India's biggest crackdown on terror network
Earlier on August 14, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced the biggest crackdown on Pakistan's so-called spy agency, ISI, after 200 of its operatives were arrested from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar and West Bengal. Shah, in a statement on X, said they were arrested in coordinated security operations across India ahead of Independence Day.
Shah said over 200 operatives of the ISI-backed terror group, Shahzad Bhatti Network, were arrested during coordinated operations in 14 states ahead of Independence Day on August 15, thwarting plans of the organisation to launch subversive attacks.
Substantial recoveries, including IEDs, grenades bearing Pakistan Ordnance Factory markings, pistols, live cartridges, and CCTV cameras used for espionage, were made from the ISI-funded group, he said.
Responding to media queries on Shah's statement, Andrabi described the remarks as "baseless".
Who is Shahzad Bhatti?
Bhatti, an alleged operative of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, has been accused of running a wider web of operatives. According to multiple media reports, he has targeted personnel as well as establishments of police and security agencies.
According to a government statement issued in New Delhi, the Shahzad Bhatti Network (SBN) is a Pakistan-based terror syndicate involved in grenade, IED and petrol-bomb attacks, and targeted killings across India. The SBN has also been paying local conduits to recce police, defence and religious sites, and to install CCTV cameras for espionage.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is probing several cases linked to Bhatti, including a grenade attack at the residence of social media influencer Roger Sandhu in Punjab in March 2025 and an explosion at a women's police station in Haryana in the same year. In April 2026, the NIA had charge-sheeted Bhatti as an absconder.
(With inputs from agency)
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