Pakistan rejects Amit Shah's ISI link charge after 200 terror arrests

Islamabad,UPDATED: Aug 18, 2026 12:12 IST

Pakistan on Monday rejected Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks linking its spy agency ISI to the Shahzad Bhatti Network, a terror group whose operatives were arrested in coordinated security operations across India ahead of Independence Day. Islamabad described the allegation as "baseless" and accused India of trying to "divert attention from its domestic security challenges".

In a post on social media, Shah said more than 200 operatives of the ISI-backed Shahzad Bhatti Network were arrested in operations carried out in 14 states before August 15. He said the action had foiled the organisation's plans to launch subversive attacks.

Shah said substantial recoveries were made from the ISI-funded group, including IEDs, grenades bearing Pakistan Ordnance Factory markings, pistols, live cartridges and CCTV cameras used for espionage.

Responding to media queries on Shah's statement, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi, in a late-night statement, described the remarks as "baseless". He said India was using Pakistan-related assertions to "divert attention from its domestic security challenges".

According to a government statement issued in New Delhi, the Shahzad Bhatti Network is a Pakistan-based terror syndicate involved in grenade, IED and petrol-bomb attacks, as well as targeted killings across India. It said the network had also been paying local conduits to recce police, defence and religious sites and to install CCTV cameras for espionage.

The Investigation Agency 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 agency had chargesheeted Bhatti as an absconder, while the latest arrests and Pakistan's response have added a fresh turn to the case.

With PTI Inputs

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