The Union Home Ministry has identified the Pakistan Embassy in Kathmandu as the major hub of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for subversive activities, including terrorism, in South Asia.
Home Department officials here said the Pak Embassy in Kathmandu had been working against India for the past several years by encouraging the members of the terrorist groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and the North East India. Maoist rebels, active in both India and Nepal, were also being provided with funds and arms, ammunition and explosives.
We have convincing evidence that the Pakistan Embassy in Kathmandu has not only hosted several meetings of the terrorist and insurgent groups but also acted as a major centre for circulation of forged Indian currency, the officials told UNI.
They said the External Affairs Ministry is also aware of such clandestine activities by the Embassy in Kathmandu. Last week’s arrest of a Pakistani Embassy official with forged Indian currency in Kathmandu was not the first incident of its kind. Several months ago another Pak embassy official was also arrested in Kathmandu with forged Indian currency and RDX, the deadly explosive, they added. The officials said the ISI had been running several units in Karachi and a couple of places in Bangladesh for printing forged Indian currency notes which were being routed through the embassy in Kathmandu and circulated in Indian market by ISI agents and rebels of different extremists and terrorist groups.
The ISI men and Islamic terrorists, who were recently arrested from different parts of North Bengal, had also confirmed existence of units for printing forged Indian notes both in Bangladesh and Pakistan’s port city Karachi, the officials said.
They said Indian Government became suspicious about the role of the Pakistan embassy in Kathmandu after a clash between two groups of Sikh militants in Nepal’s capital several years ago.
Besides holding regular meeting with Khalistani terrorists, the Pak officials held a series of talks with the rebels of the NSCN and the LTTE.
The Pak officials also had several rounds of meetings with the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and Bodo militants and extremists of the Maoist Group of Nepal and Peoples War Group and Maoist Communist Centre of India, they said.
The officials said taking advantage of diplomatic immunity, some of the embassy personnel were even instrumental in supplying arms, ammunition and explosives to these terrorists and extremists groups at a high price.
Most of these firearms are procured from China, one of the biggest contributors to the clandestine arms markets in South Asia. The assault rifles procured from China had also been sent to the Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan and Jammu and Kashmir and insurgents groups like the NSCN, the ULFA, the Bodos, the KLO and the Maoist extremist groups, they pointed out.
The officials said finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the Indian security men, the ISI personnel, in active connivance with the Embassy officials, had also been financing the Indian criminals, who had links with Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan and utilising them for subversive activities in different parts of the country, including West Bengal.
They said the ISI and the Pakistan Embassy officials in Kathmandu were successful in setting up a criminal network in West Bengal, Nepal and Bangladesh and penetrating deep into the transborder smuggling gangs operating in South Asia.
What is even more dangerous is that the ISI and Pak Embassy officials in Kathmandu have been using the transborder gangs of smugglers for drug trafficking in South Asia, they said.
The officials said the ISI agents and the Islamic terrorists had been procuring these drugs from Afghanistan, North East India and Myanmar through various insurgent groups and routing those to the smugglers through some Pakistan Embassy personnel in Kathmandu.
This is also quite evident from the recent arrests of some ISI agents and smugglers with huge quantity of drugs from different International Border areas in both North and South Bengal, they said.
The officials said the growing menace of drug trafficking along the International Borders had made the task of the border security force even more difficult. If the BSF men fail to check this recent spurt in ISI-backed drug trafficking it will spell disaster for the entire South Asia, they added.
They said the West Bengal Government was aware of this new phenomenon and it had been pressing the Centre hard for deployment of more border forces to curb the menace.
The situation has become even more critical after the ISI-backed terrorist attack in the Parliament complex. Pakistan-backed terrorist groups and Maoist rebels have already chalked out a dangerous plan to attack vital installations including the Farakka barrage, important railway stations, rail and road bridges, oil installations and the Army establishments in North Bengal. We have already alerted the State Government and asked it to beef up the security measures, they said.
This is a very dangerous situation
and we are jointly working with the Central Intelligence Agencies and forces
to prevent these subversive activities. Several ISI agents and members
of Islamic terrorist groups have already been arrested but we are not complacent.
We need more security forces for deployment and a strong legislation to
deal with the situation,’’ West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
said. (UNI)