THE second secretary to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, Ms Madhuri Gupta could not be bracketed with the famous women spies Mata Hari and Virginia Hall, because she allegedly operated for her lover.

Then the primary reason that made her resort to espionage was denial of promotion to her by her bosses. Fortunately for India, being a translator Ms Gupta did not have access to classified and crucial information. But she had inflicted severe damage by revealing the identities of undercover agents within the Indian High Commission to the Pakistanis she was in touch with. Ms Gupta is not an exception. India’s intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) has a history of agents who had switched their loyalties towards countries where they were working. The most infamous case which shook RAW was of Rabinder Singh who became a mole of American intelligence agency CIA and flew to the US despite being under RAW surveillance. At least nine officials had deserted the RAW ever since it was formed in the late 60s. Ms Gupta has been arrested by the Indian officials. Betrayal to Pakistan, Indian’s sworn enemy, by an Indian diplomat posted in Islamabad is unusual. The External Affairs Minister, Mr S M Krishna said the investigations were going on and he would wait till they are complete. Ms Gupta, unlike other Indian spies, did not flee the country and seek asylum elsewhere. The government needs to do a fine job finding evidence against her. At the same time, the government should ensure that the Indian diplomats posted outside are kept under a close watch.