Author: Meenakshi Rao/Bhuj
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: December 31, 2000
At a high-security joint interrogation
cell in Bhuj, Indian intelligence, security and police personnel are hard
at work. Their subject is a stoic, unbreakable Indian agent of the
ISI and their object is to make him sing. Despite a long, intervening
period and intense interrogation, Wali Mohammed Waan has not uttered a
word. Unrelenting quizzing has crashed on the wall of his incredible
silence.
"The ISI has torture-trained him
to such an extent that our interrogative methods have become child's play
for him," says a Border Security Force (BSF) source.
Wali is just one of the many such
men the ISI has floated in the border district of Bhuj. Trained in
malicious camps across the border, these men and their motives are deadly.
Having survived the torture dungeons of ISI for specified time-frames as
part of rigorous training, it is next to impossible to break them if, that
is, they are caught at all.
Take Wali, a history-sheeter from
Bhuj. A murder accused in Indian police records, the criminal crossed
over to Pakistan through the porous Rann and got ingrained into the ISI
ranks on assurance of refuge. Made to peddle petty consignments in
the beginning, Wali was put through the litmus test by the ISI and is today
the second biggest agent the agency employs for infiltration and consignment-peddling
through the Gujarat border. He is suspected to have brought in everything
from fake currency to pistols, ammunition, RDX and documents carrying strike
instructions.
But the ISI's main agent in Bhuj
is Mohammed Miaji whose elusive tactics and regular visits to India have
accorded him a legendary profile. The over 6 foot tall Miaji is said
to infiltrate Bhuj twice a year, and till now has given the slip to Indian
agencies. He was tipped to have been in the region till last month
before crossing over from the Haji pir area on Kachchh border after delivering
an unspecified consignment. Wali's accomplice, on whose trail the
police are, could be Miaji though Wali is yet to say anything. The
presence of Wali's wife and child in one of the villages of Bhuj has not
pressured him into talking so far. And by now, his associate and
the consignment must have seen a safe passage, the police suspect.
Mission accomplished from the man
who does not even behave like a jehadi. He does not utter Islamic
outpouring, neither does he spew venom on India. It s his silence
that he has been trained to keep which is the most damaging weapon that
ISI has managed to cultivate.
Wali was caught by a team of the
BSF and local police in the tricky terrain of the Kala Dunger mountain
in the notorious Khavda district bordering the Rann after a long trail.
"It's sheer chance that we got him through the puggees (footprint trackers)
who tracked his footprints from the village to the hills," says Bhuj DIG
A K Singh who mounted the trail in co-ordination with the BSF. Even
the Force concedes that once the man reaches any of the border villages,
it is next to impossible to find him. Not only do these agents get
adequate shelter in these villages on grounds of money and religion, they
are also hidden well due to the creviced terrain.
As for Wali, he was offering namaz
when the sleuths swooped on him. That was a month ago. Though
the man was caught, his accomplice and the killer consignment brought in
is floating undetected in Gujarat or, worse still, has made its way into
the insides of India. And Wali is just one of the many "silent robots"
the ISI factory is churning out for India and its people.
Meanwhile, in the state capital
of Ahmedabad, officials are in combat over the means to make Wali talk.
While a section of the administration has proposed the use of the truth
serum on Wali, human rights sympathisers are dead against what they term
"violative means to make a man testify against himself under the influence
of a drug."
Singh, on his part, maintains that
the issue has been blown out of proportion. "We are trying our best
to make him talk by interrogation and may use the polygraph tests on him.
The truth serum may be our last resort, if at all," the SP, who has since
been promoted as DIG, adds.
But Singh maintains that though
ISI has managed to make its presence felt in the northern part of the country,
its attempt to penetrate through the "soft belly of the country" Gujarat
has somewhat been thwarted. "This year, out of three, two of their
consignments were caught and in the third case, though they managed to
sneak back, we intercepted the consignment."
This, however, does not reduce the
threat perception. If anything, it has increased manifold over the
past year. And even those guarding the border agree whether the BSF
or the Gujarat Police. "The threat from ISI is high. It is
a proxy war. if we have intercepted their intentions the past few
times, it is no reason to conclude that we have deterred them in any way,"
says Singh.
Sources in the DRI credit the ISI
with having polarised the border population. "Their religion plank
has worked and getting information has become thrice as difficult from
border villages with a predominantly Muslim population," says a source.
But Singh points to the "increased desperation level of the ISI".
The puggees of the BSF have detected footprints on the Rann which have
looped the Rann and then returned. Even the third attempt was undertaken
from a "security infested" area. It's sheer resilience and the one-point
"destabilise India" agenda of the ISI that keeps the proxy war going, he
adds. "If I were in their boots, I would be willing to carry it out
at any cost because so much has been invested. There is no backing
out," he says.
And figures speak for themselves:
records put the intruders in year 2000 at 72 as against just 53 last year.
To top it, 20 per cent of the consignment is still floating on Indian territory,
undetected.
Tentacles The ISI has 10,000 officers
headquartered in Islamabad.
Besides Kashmir, ISI helps Taliban
in Afghanistan and the LTTE in Koyalapattinam, a TN village.
Training camps in Bangladesh.
helps ULFA, NSCN, PLA, ULFA.
Intensified activity in Hyderabad,
Bangalore, Cochin, Kozikode, Bhatkal and Gulbarga.
Trains six groups in Kashmir, totalling
5,000 to 10,000 terrorists.
Recruits Meos from Haryana.
brings relatives from Pak who paint a rosy picture of things there and
motivate Meos to work for ISI.
In Kashmir, boys between 12 and
18 years are lured/coerced to join jehad. enlistment done by 'motivators'
from Jamaat-e-Islami in league with Hizbul. Parents are paid Rs 5000
to Rs 20,000, motivators make up to Rs 5000 per recruit.
The most motivated are exfiltrated
to Pak training camps, lesser motivated are sent to training camps in remote
J&K and given 20 days training in handling arms.
At ISI camps in Pak, recruits are
assigned a number and put through religious indoctrination and physical
training. They are trained to not speak on being tortured, handle
weapons and IEDs. Training lasts three months and recruits are paid
Rs 600 a month. Select recruits are sent for commando training to
Khost, Manshera and Rawalpindi. At the time of infiltration into
India for strikes they get ammunition and Rs 5000 to Rs10,000 as balance
of remuneration. Henceforth, the mercenaries are paid Rs 2,500 to
Rs 5,000 as monthly salary and a special award for every execution.
