New Delhi: Is Pakistan running spy networks with immunity from its manicured lawns in New Delhi under the guise of diplomacy? Revelations from top intelligence sources claim that the Pakistan High Commission is serving as a covert command centre for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) – turning visa desks into espionage recruitment hubs and exploiting diplomatic immunity to wage a silent war on Indian soil.

The visa counters, which allegedly work for undercover ISI operatives, are not just stamping papers. They are screening citizens for potential saboteurs and a network of informants. Requesting a local SIM card from applicants, a seemingly mundane ask, becomes the entry ticket into a spider web of espionage. A “yes” marks you as pliable. The next thing you know, you are passing military site photos or GPS coordinates to people you will never meet.

The ISI has reportedly turned the high commission into a tactical operation zone. Public-facing departments such as visa issuance and grievance redressal have become strategic placement points. Their mission is to exploit and recruit operatives. Embedded within the mission and protected by diplomatic immunity, ISI agents are mapping India’s security infrastructure.

Sources claim the staff have been zeroing in on economically marginalised and and aggrieved communities in states like Uttar Pradesh whwre there is social unrest, poverty and employment. Their pitch? Not ideology, but opportunity. Poverty and injustice become pressure points and are weaponised by trained handlers who know exactly what buttons to push.

“People are being lured into espionage without even knowing they are part of larger conspiracy,” said a source and added, “Some know exactly what they are doing.”

It often starts with the High Commission’s visa office. In the name of “document verification” and paperwork delays, ISI officials allegedly examine applicant’s pliability.

Haryana-based YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra’s arrest is just the beginning. She allegedly filmed “vlogs” from security-sensitive areas and masked surveillance as social content. She is not alone. Reports suggest a surge in social media influencers moonlighting as unwitting informants – traded like tokens in a deadly intelligence game.

Consider this: Mohammad Tarif, a resident of Nuh district, allegedly confessed to giving a SIM card to a High Commission employee. He reportedly even crossed into Pakistan. His case is not an outlier, it is a blueprint.

Once you are in, the tasks escalate – survey troop movement, snap border fencing, report train schedules, etc. It is death by a thousand favors, each more damning than the last.

Protected by the Vienna Convention, embassy staff cannot be easily persecuted or even interrogated even if intelligence agencies identify their roles in espionage. This immunity leads ISI operatives to act with impunity.   

To keep their operations away from the radar, ISI handlers rarely contact recruits directly in India. Instead, they funnel commands through middlemen based in countries like Nepal and the UAE. This layered system makes detection almost impossible, until someone slips.

So, for how long will India tolerate what appears to be a foreign intelligence outfit operating with immunity under the veil of diplomacy? This is not only a border issue. It is a national security crisis festering in Lutyens’ Delhi. And if the allegations are true, India is not dealing with diplomacy. It is fighting a silent invasion.