The Indian home affairs minister, L.K. Advani, has accused the Pakistani intelligence agency of gradually extending its activities in India from its original base in the north-west.

He told parliament in Delhi that the agency was now providing training and assistance to insurgency movements in the north-eastern states.

He said twenty intelligence cells had been uncovered this year.

Mr Advani, a leader of the dominant party in the federal coalition, the Hindu nationalist BJP, has repeatedly blamed Pakistan for fuelling the Muslim insurgency in the disputed region of Kashmir.