Author: PN Khera
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: November 17, 2003
Pakistan's ISI has forged a nexus
with the Maoist cadres of Nepal to recruit men to spy in India. The recent
arrest of a Nepalese young man in Gujarat shows that the modus operandi
is to invite youth to join educational institutions in Pakistan and, during
the course of studies, they are encouraged to enter India through the open
border between the two countries and seek out specific defence-related
information.
Harinarain Shah (26) of Mohammadpur,
Nepal, an MBBS student in a Karachi medical college, revealed during interrogation
that there are many other young men whose families have Maoist sympathies,
and who are joining the ISI network. He told the Indian security forces
that the ISI had asked him to travel to Gujarat to seek out information
about existing defence establishments, deployment of troops and plans for
new strategic assets in the State.
Taking advantage of the fact that
a Nepalese would hardly arouse curiosity anywhere in India, the ISI is
utilising both the easy access provided by the open border between the
two countries as well as the close fraternal relations between India and
Nepal to sow seeds of discord.
The Maoists are also using the ISI
network and its facilities to lay down their own web in Nepal. The ISI
has set in place a network of agents in Nepal and Bangladesh to disperse
counterfeit currency in India and distribute RDX explosive by moving it
through individual couriers in small packets. The same tactic is being
applied by the Maoist rebels to attack the Royal Nepal Army and the police
posts in their country.
The Government of Nepal became aware
of such ISI activities on its soil when it caught an ISI officer attached
to the Pakistan Embassy in Kathmandu with a large stock of RDX. Another
employee in the embassy was recently taken into custody with several thousand
rupees in the denomination Rs 500 currency notes while trying to smuggle
it into India. The hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu
to Kandahar was the first major signal of the existence of a terrorist
network of which the ISI is the linchpin.
At the same time the exponential
growth of madarsas on both sides of the Indo-Nepal border is causing concern
to both countries. The ISI has been assiduously encouraging Pakistani young
men to marry Nepalese girls and settle down close to the border so that,
over time, a pro-Pakistani population will be the dominant factor in the
region. This has serious implications for the unity and integrity of Nepal
as well.
The Royal Nepal Government has been
at pains to cooperate with India to undercut Pakistan's nefarious designs,
but the ISI has been developing new networks utilising the state of unrest
within Nepal to create human intelligence networks that have links that
go deep into Bangladesh as well. In 1993, the then Army Chief, General
Bipin Joshi, spoke about the "inverted crescent" of the ISI, stretching
from Maharashtra in the West, to Manipur in the North-East. This crescent
has now become a complete necklace with almost the entire country being
penetrated by the ISI cadres.
The ISI's eastward operations in
the North-East, via Bangladesh and its activities in Nepal have again been
stepped up. The main concern is while Pakistani intelligence operatives
have since long been using Nepal as a concentration area and launching
pad for anti-Indian activities, they are also alleged to be involved in
training and arming Maoists for subversive activities in India by collaborating
with its Left Wing extremist groups. The main Left Wing group, which has
recently come back with a vengeance and with better weaponry, is the People's
War Group. Its attack on Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu
is indicative of better training, equipment and motivation.
Nepal shares a porous international
border of about 1,750 km with India, which has been maintained as an open
boundary with people from both sides enjoying free movement. This border
has been a bonanza for the ISI's anti-India activities. It is not only
the ISI and HuM operatives who are up and about in Nepal but also Lashkar-e-Toiba
(LeT) and Harkat Ul Jehad-e-Islami (HUJI), all of which are in close contact
with various Islamic organisations known for their fundamentalist approach.
(ADNI)
