archive: ISI to spread panic in Delhi through 'fifth column'
ISI to spread panic in Delhi through 'fifth column'
Shelley Vishwajeet
The Observer
June 5, 1999
Title: ISI to spread panic in Delhi through 'fifth column'
Author: Shelley Vishwajeet
Publication: The Observer
Date: June 5, 1999
The Delhi Police have identified three IST-backed militant groups
which have sneaked into the capital with clear instructions to
initiate subversive activities in and around the National Capital.
These groups include the Babbar Khalsa International, Khalistan
Commando Force and a relatively new group called by the Khalistan
Zindabad Force led by K Wadhwa Singh and Ranjit Singh.
Delhi Police intelligence sources believe that Inter Services
Intelligence (ISI) wants its 'fifth column' in the capital to create
panic in the city and elsewhere in the country. Such activities will
also help revive, reactivate and encourage dormant militant groups,
especially from Punjab.
A senior police official said that unlike Jammu and Kashmir where, the
ISI had a fair amount of penetration and success, its gameplan to
reactivate subversive activities in Punjab and Delhi had so far not
materialised, mainly due to enhanced vigilance and lack of public
support and sympathy.
He said that with situation on the border tense, ISI would be making
desperate attempts to activate militant groups in the capital and
elsewhere.
Besides the militant groups, especially those espousing Khalistan's
cause, are also under intense pressure to perform and impress upon
their masters in Pakistan that they still retain the ability to strike
under any circumstances. The official joked that it was also a
question of their (militants') bread and butter, which clearly brought
home the point that unless these militants performed, they would not
get substantial help (both money and arms) from their foreign masters.
Pakistan has for sometime now being trying to reactivate militant
groups in Punjab. The most clear indication of this came with the
establishment of the Pakistan Gurdwara Prabhandhak Committee (PGPC) by
Islamabad in February 1999, headed by a retired Army General who also
happens to be former ISI chief Lt Gen (Retd) Javed Nasir.
The establishment of PGPC pointed to an attempt by Islamic
fundamentalists to gain control over Sikh shrines, the official source
pointed out.
The setting up of the PGPC through a notification by the Pakistan
Government, has also prevented the Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee
(SGPC) from maintaining its traditional right to collect offerings
made by pilgrims.
The PGPC chief in an interview to Pakistani Urdu daily Jung had
suggested that creation of the PGPC would provide a fillip to the
"separatist movement" in Punjab.
Sources felt that appointment of an experienced General, who was also
a former ISI chief, was a clear indication of Pakistan's intention to
reactivate militancy in Punjab and Delhi.
In the last few months there had also been increased in-stances of
"some kind of activities" in the Amritsar-Ambala-Panipat-Delhi belt.
Besides a bomb blast in a train near Dadri, there was also a bomb
explosion at the Amritsar district court complex sometime ago.
Thursday's bomb blast in Chandni Chowk was the first major blast in
Delhi after a series of bomb explosions rocked the Capital in 1997 and
early 1998. In February 1998, the Crime Branch of Delhi Police had
claimed to have cracked the cases after arresting 13 men. One of
them, Kamran, was believed to have designed the crude bombs and
triggering the blasts. The Crime Branch had also identified the
mastermind behind the blasts as Abdul Karim Tunda, now believed to
have been killed in Bangladesh by rivals.
Meanwhile, to review the law and order situation in the Capital and to
discuss various intelligence reports Police Commissioner V N Singh on
Friday held a meeting with top Intelligence and Crime Branch officials
at the police headquarters.
The militants had reportedly used some Improvised Explosive Devices
and not RDX.
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