'India wants to quell domestic dissent after China clash by diverting attention'.

Islamabad -- Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in an interview with a foreign news agency, denounced India's announcement made on Tuesday that it would expel half the staff in Pakistan's embassy in New Delhi over spying, saying India was trying to divert attention at home.

'The accusations were baseless,' he said.

'They have no answers for the battering they got in Ladakh, so to quell the domestic dissent they want to refocus,' he said.

India's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Qureshi said he was concerned that India could try to get Pakistan involved in the regional tensions with a 'false flag operation' an incident staged to provide a pretext for action. But he added that Pakistan backed the position of its ally China over Ladakh and he had recently had a call with China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, who had expressed appreciation for that position.

The foreign minister expressed fear that any Indian 'misadventure' in Pakistan's territory would...