HVK Archives: India's vascillation over ISI Nepal link irks intelligence
India's vascillation over ISI Nepal link irks intelligence - The Observer
Observer Political Bureau
()
6 January 1997
Title : India's vascillation over ISI Nepal link irks Intelligence
Author : Observer Political Bureau
Publication : The Observer
Date : January 6, 1997
With the Indian security forces tightening vigil along the
India-Pakistan border and thus making it no longer porous for the
terrorist elements from across the border, Pakistan's Inter Services
Intelligence (ISI) agency has found its new launching pad in Nepal to
mount its anti-India operations.
Documents exclusively obtained by The Observer of Business and Politics
have revealed how Kashmiri separatists aided by the ISI have been using
the Himalayan kingdom to launch terrorist attacks against India.
Investigations both by the Nepalese and Indian authorities have revealed
that these separatists have been operating under the active patronage of
a leading Nepalese politician who is a part of the ruling coalition and
Kathmandu-based Pakistani diplomats.
The politician, Mirza Dilshad Beg, is the leader of Nepal Democratic
Party which has 19 members, incidentally six of them Muslims, in the
Nepalese parliament. Beg with his 19 MPs enjoys a unique bargaining
position vis-a-vis the Nepalese government which has a wafer-thin
majority of just three members in a House of 200.
Significantly, Dilshad Beg is said to have close relations with a
cabinet minister in the H D Deve Gowda government.
One of the documents obtained by The Observer of Business and Politics
is a fax message in Urdu which contains instructions from Jammu and
Kashmir Islamic Front (JKIF), a two-year-old Pakistan-trained terrorist
group, to its activists in Nepal on how to detonate RDX explosives in
New Delhi.
The fax message, intercepted by the Nepalese authorities, was dated
December 3, 1996, and carried the sender address as "Pakistan Trading
House" in Islamabad. The text of the tax does not mention Islamabad,
but the fax numbers at the bottom of the letter give away the name.
It is addressed to one "Farooq Saheb" in Kathmandu and explains in some
detail how to make explosives out of "the ATTA (RDX) which I had sent
you". The fax also clearly instructs "Farooq Saheb" that "all this work
should he carried out after you reached "D" (New Delhi) destination".
The Nepalese police seized the fax message from some Kashmiri militants
they arrested on December 16 in Kathmandu. About 20 kilograms of RDX was
also recovered from them.
During interrogation, these militants revealed that they belonged to
JKIF and that the RDX was sent by the Amir of JKIF, Bilal Ahmed Beg and
his deputy Javed Karawa to be used for a major explosion they were
planning in Delhi. Incidentally, Karawa was the prime accused in the
recent bomb blast in Lajpat Nagar area.
The arrest of JKIF militants and the seizure of RDX from them have
caused considerable alarm in Nepal and the local media have even cast
doubts over the efficacy of the Nepalese security arrangements in
preventing the use of Nepal, for anti-India activities.
Everest Herald, in an editorial dated December 18, had declared that
"any attempt to fight the war for Kashmir at Nepal's expense is
inadmissible". The previous day, the paper, in a front page article,
disclosed that one of the arrested militants, Manzoor Ahmed "had
confessed to have received the explosives from a man called Salim, who,
he said, was an ISI agent based in Pakistan".
According to Manzoor Ahmed, he met Salim At a prearranged venue near the
Everest Nursing Home at New Baneswar, Kathmandu. He had also disclosed
that the explosives were brought to Nepal by air and that the JKIF was
behind the operation.
The interrogation also highlighted the role played by the Pakistan
embassy officials in Kathmandu in promoting terrorist activities in
India. Operating under diplomatic cover, these ISI agents are not only
co-ordinating anti-India operations, but also sustaining Islamic support
banks in Nepal through regular funding for constructing mosques and
other congregational activities, besides providing scholarships to
Muslim students in Nepal. In fact, anti-India elements have always found
patronage and shelter from the local Muslim leaders like Mirza Dilshad
Beg.
Originally hailing from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, Beg reportedly fled
to Nepal a few years ago after he was charged with some criminal cases
in Uttar Pradesh. However, he still retains his contacts with India,
particularly with several Muslim fundamental organisations in north
India.
Meanwhile, the Indian security agencies are said to be extremely
disturbed about what they call the "weak-kneed" approach of the United
Front government over this issue and the sensational Rattan Sehgal spy
case.
While home minister Indrajit Gupta claimed in a newspaper interview that
the government would not allow any drift on the Rattan Sehgal case,
which he described as a serious matter, intelligence officials do not
find it very reassuring. They believe that the government, particularly
the external affairs ministry, is pussy-footing on the issue. They
point out how the ministry let two US diplomats quietly slip out of
India recently after their involvement with Sehgal came to light.
Though the home minister maintained during the interview that the Rattan
Sehgal episode had not done any serious damage to the security aspects
of the country, informed sources in the Intelligence Bureau and other
agencies believe otherwise.
Also, they are not ruling out the possibility of Pakistani intelligence
having a finger in the spy case.
Back
Top
|
