"Such action as has been taken by the government of Pakistan could not but undermine the bilateral relations between the two countries," Indian foreign ministry spokesman Nevtej Sarna said in New Delhi.

India ordered out a Pakistani diplomat after Islamabad threw out a visa councillor from the Indian mission in Islamabad on charges of espionage earlier Saturday.

Sarna also rubbished an accusation from the Pakistan side that the Indian mission in Islamabad had leaked news of their diplomat's expulsion to the media.

"It was based on a detailed briefing (to reporters) by the Pakistani intelligence... things cannot be more blatant than," he told a press conference.

Pakistani foreign office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam had made the accusation in a telephone interview earlier with India's privately-run NDTV television network.

"We also asked the high commission not to make this public as this was not done for publicity because it is a matter which concerns our security, but later on the Indian high commission confirmed it to the press," she said.

The tit-for-tat expulsion was the first since the two countries launched a slow moving peace process about two years ago. The rivals last expelled diplomats in February 2003.

It comes amid tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours since the July 7 bombings of rush-hour trains in the Indian financial capital Mumbai that killed 183 people.

India and Pakistan began peace talks in January 2004, a month after they enforced a ceasefire in disputed Kashmir, the subject of two of the three wars fought between the neighbours since their 1947 independence from Britain.

A raft of measures including cross-border train and bus services have been launched to boost people-to-people contacts as part of the process, which is aimed at resolving long-standing disputes on several issues including Kashmir.

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