April 29, 2010:  An Indian diplomat, Madhuri Gupta, was recently arrested and charged with being a spy for Pakistan. The two countries have been adversaries for over sixty years, and espionage has been one area of constant conflict. But rarely have spies been found so high up in the bureaucracy. There have been other diplomats caught spying for the enemy, but this was the first time the culprit was a woman. She has apparently implicated another Indian diplomat working in Pakistan, where she was posted at the Indian embassy. Gupta was arrested after six months of scrutiny by counter intelligence officials. She had apparently been working for Pakistan for three years, and used a Pakistani journalist to make her initial contact with Pakistani intelligence.

Gupta's specialty was as an Urdu (one of the major languages of Pakistan) interpreter, but she worked her way up the ranks to a mid-level position. She was apparently caught because of her efforts to get access to documents she, officially, had no need for. While she was paid for what she passed on to Pakistan, it's believed revenge against fellow Indian diplomats was also a motive.

The two countries regularly arrest low level agents, but it's known that efforts are made to recruit government officials, and then to protect them. Thus the arrest of Gupta was a win for India's intelligence agency (RAW), despite the disgrace of one of their diplomats going over to the enemy. But this comes at a time that India has suffered several high level officials either spying, or being played by foreign spies, for information. Questions are being asked if RAW (the Indian CIA), is up to the job. RAW protests that they have had many successes, especially using Internet based espionage. But you often can't make public your victories, lest the enemy learn about how they have been had. Intelligence agencies are always trying to play each other, and keep quiet what is really going on.