Thursday, January 15, 2015

Kerry Challenges Modi with "Hard Evidence" of India's Covert War in Pakistan

US Secretary of State John Kerry did not openly acknowledge it in pubic but he took Modi to the woodshed with "hard evidence" of India's continuing support of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its chief Mullah Fazlullah currently sheltered in Afghanistan.  The US has since put Mullah Fazlullah on its most wanted terrorist list.


A report in Daily Mail News filed by Christina Palmer and Anjali Sharma quotes an unnamed inside source as saying: “The atmosphere in the room after Kerry and Modi had lunch together, changed when Premier Modi very blatantly stated that he and his government so shocked to hear about the Peshawar School Terror that the schools and both the houses of the Parliament observed moment of silence to mourn the Peshawar School Terror and thus there could be no Indian hand involved in it.” In response, the sources say, Americans "got furious and showed some hard evidences of Mulla Fazalulla and RAW nexus in Afghanistan to influx terror in Pakistan. The American side took the Indian side quite aggressively and also snubbed Modi over the highly objectionable role of his National Security Advisor Ajit Kumar Doval ".

The reports adds: "Modi and his team were grilled over the admissions of Ajit Doval of funding and utilizing TTP terrorists to destabilize Pakistan and Modi was asked to tame Doval and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) both in this direction. Modi was told to end India’s patronization of Mulla Fazalulla in Afghanistan and it was made it clear to Modi and his team that the US was about to place Mulla Fazalulla on list of global terrorists and an Indian pampering of him would jeopardize the US-India relations and can also have its implications on the upcoming visit of the US President to India".

A post titled "Has Modi India Stepped Up India's Covert War in Pakistan?" posted on December 22, 2014 has been picked up  and widely covered by mainstream Pakistani media in the last few weeks. It's reproduced below for those who missed it:

"India has always used Afghanistan as a second front against Pakistan. India has over the years been financing problems in Pakistan".  US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel

Chuck Hagel should know what he's talking about when it comes to intelligence. He served on the US Senate Intelligence Committee before he became the Pentagon chief.


How does India "finance problems" in Pakistan? Here are some of the ways it does so:

1. India's intelligence agency RAW uses its long and deep ties with the Afghan Intelligence KhAD (Khadamat-e Aetela'at-e Dawlati, also known as the National Directorate) staffed by openly anti-Pakistan agents who are known to support the Pakistani Taliban (TTP).  There are reports that the current TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah is being protected by KhAD agents in Afghanistan. Last year, US troops snatched former TTP chief Hakimullah Mehusd's deputy Latifullah Mesud  from Afghan intelligence agents. Apparently, Latifullah had been traveling back and forth across the Pak-Afghan border to coordinate attacks inPakistan with the Afghan agents.

2.  Before writing and promoting an anti-Pakistan book in India, American analyst and author Christine Fair said this in 2009: "Having visited the Indian mission in Zahedan, Iran, I can assure you they are not issuing visas as the main activity! Moreover, India has run operations from its mission in Mazar (through which it supported the Northern Alliance) and is likely doing so from the other consulates it has reopened in Jalalabad and Qandahar along the border. Indian officials have told me privately that they are pumping money into Baluchistan". Prominent Pakistani Baloch insurgents like Brahamdagh Bugti are also being sheltered by the Afghan security and intelligence establishment along with RAW.

3.  Another US analyst Laura Rozen explained India-Taliban nexus as follows: "While the U.S. media has frequently reported on Pakistani ties to jihadi elements launching attacks in Afghanistan, it has less often mentioned that India supports insurgent forces attacking Pakistan, the former (US) intelligence official said. "The Indians are up to their necks in supporting the Taliban against the Pakistani government in Afghanistan and Pakistan," the former (US) intelligence official who served in both countries said. "The same anti-Pakistani forces in Afghanistan also shooting at American soldiers are getting support from India. India should close its diplomatic establishments in Afghanistan and get the Christ out of there."

There are signs that India has stepped up its covert war against Pakistan since the election of the Hindu Nationalist government of Prime Minister Modi. The first sign is the appointment of an anti-Pakistan hawk Ajit Doval as Modi's National Security Advisor. As a key part of his long service to India's intelligence establishment, Doval says he served as an undercover RAW agent in Pakistan for seven years.

Given all the circumstantial evidence of Indian support of Baloch insurgents' and TTP's war against Pakistan,  the Pakistani security and intelligence establishment can not rely on counterinsurgency operations like ZarbeAzb alone to stop the civilian carnage on Pakistani streets and schools. The overall counterinsurgency strategy must include serious efforts to cut off support and funding for the TTP and the Baloch insurgents from both domestic and external sources, and disruption of the Indian intelligence network operating against Pakistan from Afghanistan. It will require superior intelligence and significant counter-intelligence operations, as well as an effective narrative and powerful diplomatic offensive to put pressure on India to stop its covert war being waged on Pakistani soil.

Here are a couple of video discussion on the subject of terrorism:

http://vimeo.com/117028741


Paris Massacre; Kerry-Modi Meeting; TTP's Fazlullah on US Terror List; Anti-Imran Protest from WBT TV on Vimeo.


http://vimeo.com/115381071


India's Role in Pakistan Terror; Pakistan's National Narrative: Quaid-e-Azam's Vision from WBT TV on Vimeo.

Here's US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel talking about "India financing problems in Pakistan":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNeKnMbAm8c

 


Here are video clips of Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval talking about his 7 years undercover for RAW in Pakistan:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2c33oq_i-lived-in-pakistan-for-7-years-as-spy-ajit-doval-ex-intelligence-officer-now-national-security-advi_news

 
I lived in Pakistan for 7 Years as Spy - Ajit... by zemtv

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diQu_wPeIeI




Here's Ajit Kumar Doval explaining India's "defensive offense" strategy against Pakistan: ((Key statement toward the end: Pay the (Taliban) terrorists 1.5 times the funding they are getting to buy them out. They are mercenaries)

http://dai.ly/x2cq6ov



How to tackle Pakistan by Ajit Doval [India... by emran-caan

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Pakistan's Political and Military Policy Response to Peshawar Attack

Taliban or RAW-liban?

Counter-insurgencyOperation ZarbeAzb

India's Abiding Hostility Toward Pakistan 

India's Israel Envy: Will Modi Attack Pakistan?

Who Killed Karkare?

CFR's View of the Taliban

India's Covert War in Pakistan

India and Balochistan

Obama's New Regional Strategy

Webchat On Obama's New Regional Strategy

Obama's Afghan Exit Strategy



31 comments:

Monis R. said...

Riaz the Daily Mail site where this appeared is not THE Daily Mail, it's a knock off site. I grew suspicious due to the poor grammar / writing style of the article. I don't think the reporting is credible. Please check.

Riaz Haq said...

Monis: "Riaz the Daily Mail site where this appeared is not THE Daily Mail, it's a knock off site. I grew suspicious due to the poor grammar / writing style of the article. I don't think the reporting is credible. Please check"


You ma be right but the fact is that the Americans know what Indians are up to in Afghanistan as previously indicated by Def Sec Chuck Hagel. I wouldn't be surprised if Kerry did confront him with the evidence, especially after the Doval video. http://www.riazhaq.com/2014/12/has-modi-stepped-up-indias-covert-war.html

Zia said...

But so what - there is so much to sell to and buy from each other. It boils down to dollars rupees and self interest. And there is plenty of that between the two countries

Riaz Haq said...

Zia:" But so what - there is so much to sell to and buy from each other. It boils down to dollars rupees and self interest. And there is plenty of that between the two countries"

I believe US concerns with the re-emergence of international terror from Afghanistan trump other concerns about economy and trade. Homeland security is top priority for US leadership.

Monis R. said...

I agree Riaz. But fake news stories seriously undermine the point you are making. I don't think you should use that article as a source. Everything becomes suspect.

Riaz Haq said...

Monis: "I agree Riaz. But fake news stories seriously undermine the point you are making. I don't think you should use that article as a source. Everything becomes suspect."


Would you prefer a well-written NY Times propaganda piece such as those created by Judith Miller on Iraq's non-existent WMDs?

Mayraj said...

I know about Balochistan, as also Indian in an Indian think tank article;but I thought this was just Karzai as an article had previously mentioned. But I guess he had a helping hand.

"This article published in India’s official “Defence Review” confirms that the creation of Bangladesh was the result of an Indian military operation and that the “Mukti Bahini” largely comprised Bengali soldiers from Indian army. India hopes to replicate that ‘success’ with a war all along the Indo-Pakistan frontier with the BLA beefed up with “volunteers” and Pakistan’s nuclear deterrent neutralised with the help of the USA. That should wake up the political strategists who think that trade and films would rid India of its imperial ambition to block/flood rivers and to balkanise Pakistan. The conclusion is very apt; there is no need to pretend and play “quest for peace” or find excuse for covert operations; the two countries have been at war for 65 years."

http://lisauk.com/lisa/how-to-make-proxy-war-succeed-in-baluchistan-by-dr-amarjit-singh.html
How to make Proxy War succeed in Baluchistan by Dr Amarjit Singh

When India loses half of country it can start whining.

"The surreptitious visit of Sheikh Mujib to Agartala on a Top Secret mission to meet Indian co-conspirators on 5 February, 1962 is corroborated by a diary note endorsed by Khowai SDO Smarajit Chakravarty: “Today at about 1300 hrs one Mr. Mujibur Rahaman, Amir Hussain & T Choudhury arrived through Asharambari. They have been sent to Teliamura under instructionfrom D.M”. This essential piece of evidence, the missing link in the Agartala Conspiracy case has belatedly been provided by Manas Pal, in his Op-Ed titled ‘A Diary Note on Mujibur Rahman’’, published in Agartala’s daily Bengal Newz of 5 November 2012, proving that India and the Sheikh had been planning the secession much earlier."

Peoples Review Weekly - Mukti Bahini and Indian Army were the initiator and executor of the genocide

Mukti Bahini and Indian Army were the initiator and executor of the genocide

Majumdar said...

Monis bhai,

You have made good points. Nonetheless my sympathies are with the good Prof. The fact that the news is drawn from (an allegedly) fake website is no guarantee that the news itself is fake. It cannot be ruled out that Kerry sb did give ModiGee a piece of his mind.

Regards

Wasim said...

Riaz Sahab please stop fooling the people of Pakistan. Neither we watch Mubashar Lucqman shows nor do we believe in such fake articles by Daily News Pakistan. I think we should concentrate on our internal problems before blaming others.

Riaz Haq said...

Wasim:" please stop fooling the people of Pakistan"

Please stop fooling yourself. It's far worse than fooling others.

Please read my post carefully and watch all the videos in their entirety with an open mind. Try and educate yourself about both internal and external sources of Pakistan's current crisis.

Nigel Stevens said...

This seems like a fruitless endeavour and illustrates why there can be no peace between India & Pakistan.

As a subcontinent watcher, I know for every comment or argument one makes, there is an counter argument from the other country. Today however, Pakistan is on the losing side for two reasons. Even before the annihilation of OBL, apart from few fundamentalist Islamic states, not many countries trusted Pakistan in its involvement of fighting Terrorism.

Quite the opposite, Pakistan was known to harbor many terrorist organizations with outright support from the ISI. Today some of them have turned inward and are tormenting Pakistan itself.

Secondly, if you think you can propagate conspiracy theories, or any other spun off theory, on the web there are now seven more Indians ready to challenge and assert themselves for each Pakistani!

You may think that with Pakistan, with its nuclear arsenal, may be on par militarily with India. However Sir, there are other PR wars that Pakistan may have already lost.

Good Luck

Riaz Haq said...

TOI on India's Pakistan obsession:

NEW DELHI: India may be pounding Pakistan heavily on the border in retaliation to its continued ceasefire violations, but minister of state (MoS) for home Kiren Rijiju feels New Delhi does not need to be hawkish on Pakistan and must let go of its obsession with the neighbour.

Speaking at an event in the capital, Rijiju said India should retain its image of a soft state as that is its strength. He, however, qualified his statement with the caveat that it should, however, be firm in defending itself.

The minister was speaking at the second RV Raju Memorial Lecture organized by National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Speaking after senior journalist Shekhar Gupta, who delivered the lecture titled 'Pakistan and Neighbourhood—A Hawkish Attitude', Rijiju said, "We are a natural soft power. We don't need to be hawkish (vis-a-vis neighbourhood). We should not tinker with our international image of being a soft power."

Speaking on Pakistan, Rijiju said, "I think Indians and Pakistanis should not be obsessed with each other. If we need to be a superpower, we need to let go of our Pakistan obsession."

He, however, said that "our apparatus does not need to be soft" and that India should be firm in defending itself.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/kiren-rijiju-pakistan-obsession-is-a-north-indian-thing/articleshow/45947416.cms

Jagdeep said...

@ N Stevens:
Quite the opposite, Pakistan was known to harbor many terrorist organizations with outright support from the ISI. Today some of them have turned inward and are tormenting Pakistan itself.

Secondly, if you think you can propagate conspiracy theories, or any other spun off theory, on the web there are now seven more Indians ready to challenge and assert themselves for each Pakistani!







There you have it! India has become the perennial scapegoat for Pakistanis and yet this sickness is for the large part unproven and unheard of elsewhere in the world.

It seems it is in the Pakistani interest to do so and imply and say "that is the reason we had to split from India because we could not live in a majority Hindu state"!

Riaz Haq said...

In the secret world of intelligence, where trust is a commodity best not discussed, the US and India have emerged as very unlikely partners. The US is today the most important supplier of intelligence and information to India, from being a rival until a few years ago, sources across intelligence and security agencies say.

That doesn't mean that all is forgiven and all information is fully trusted. The Indian establishment is divided over the quality of information flowing from US agencies.

Cooperation picked up after the 911 attacks in 2001, when the AB Vajpayee government opened up its secret chests containing credible terror information from Af-Pak belt. Until then, there were periods of highs and lows. The shadow of the Cold War, when both sides distrusted each other, hung heavy. "Among our foreign partners the biggest flow of information is from US agencies.Many a times they're highly credible. I won't say always," says a retired chief of one intelligence agency.

Contacts between intelligence agencies of both sides are now almost institutionalized, with visits of senior RAW officials to CIA 's Langley headquarters almost part of the drill. Such contacts exist between other agencies too.

In New Delhi, liaison meetings between intelligence officers of both countries happen often. In fact, many concede the most frequent contact is with US officials.

Much of the information that comes from American intelligence agencies deals with terror. It's now a habit for Indians to expect regular inputs from the US on terror-related developments in Pakistan."It's not always a good sign. We shouldn't get so addicted to their information," says a former intelligence officer.

In most cases, these inputs transform into alerts that invariably become public, causing international concern.Many analysts caution that unfounded alerts have the possibility of adversely affecting India's image of being a stable investment destination.

Even as the two sides boost cooperation, some are also beginning to get worried. "US is one foreign power with the biggest vested interest in the region. We should be wary," one official says. Another argues that in a large number of US inputs, the information was found to be unreliable. "It's tricky and it's advisable to be cautious," he said.

For many in the security establishment, developments of the past decade, such as that of a senior RAW officer defecting to the US in 2004, have added to questions on the US's real motives in India.Their concerns have deepened with revelations surrounding David Coleman Headley.

Such concerns may not be officially placed in the quiet intelligence agency meetings.But for US agencies to enjoy free access deep into the Indian security establishment, their real motives will forever remain the biggest challenge.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Spy-games-Is-India-too-dependent-on-US-inputs/articleshow/46007743.cms

Riaz Haq said...

A Fascist Model of Development
The Myth of India as a Superpower


A few months ago, I had the opportunity to attend one of my childhood friend’s marriage ceremony in the Northern part of Bengal’s splendidly dense forest. There, I met one of my former school teachers who suggested, for “my own benefit,” that I join the Nazi-inspired Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He explained that, apart from the fact that I have all relevant degrees, I also have a Muslim name. This led me to withdraw into some deep labyrinthine cave inside me for a while, despite the hustle bustle of the wedding. The conversation provided crucial clues into the minds of India’s superbly corrupt middle class, who have been hypnotized into believing that India could be powerful only through arms, displays of aggression, masochism and a poisonous breed of nationalism. Nitasha Kaul in her essay, Kashmir: A Place of Blood and Memory (In Until My Freedom Has Come: The New Intifada in Kashmir, Edited by Sanjay Kak, Haymarket Books, 2013) has this to say: “The large swathes of Indian middle classes are stuffed with intolerance, unthinking mass entertainment, and over consumption – fed by a corporatised media that ‘manufactures consent’ in a textbook Chomsky way. The mix of ignorance and blustery self-confidence that one encounters in middle-class Indians rivals Americans (they share this ‘superpower’ trait!).”

Average middle class Indians barely read, and when they do, to show how culturally advanced they are, they do not wander beyond the fictions of Chetan Bhagat or Sidney Sheldon. In cinema, they are die-hard fans of the horrible actor-cum-criminal Salman Khan, and in politics they have recently found out that if there is god on earth, then it is Modi. Their detergents have worked hard to wash off the bloodstains from this man’s clothes. The clamor of middle-class Indians for a life of super abundance is so deeply rooted that, as things stand, more and more they display the unmistakable characteristics of their former colonial masters. The middle class and the rich have become India’s new colonizers. Since colonization of economic resources is impossible without a simultaneous colonization of history and memory, India’s scholars, composed largely of liberal Brahmans, have embarked on an ambitious project to rewrite the history of the poor and dispossessed. In this history of hunter and hunted, the hunters are always glorified: they become the unquestioned mediators of the universe. Their violence is normalized through the cultural apparatus, and any deviation from it is taken as a sign of unmanliness or even disloyalty. Today’s middle class has absorbed all the barbaric elements of the neoliberal world view, according to which, the huts of the poor must be cleared to make way for the shopping malls of the rich. The middle class never tires of repeating the word “development” as it refuses to ponder its meaning and implications.
-------------

Indians like my teacher champion a fascist model of development that exerts a disturbing influence on the inner self. The neoliberal world view builds up misery and guilt in those who theorize it or support it. It alienates the individual, firstly from his inner self and secondly from his fellow beings. These theories conveniently forget that there is a limit on natural resources. Forlorn and wasted, where else will such men seek their redemption if not in their own death. Fascism and its first cousin neoliberalism are harbingers of death and destruction. If Indians do not heed history, India could end up meeting the same fate as Japan, which learned a lesson on humanity and sobriety after a barbaric nuclear war. In 1998, when India blasted its first successful nuclear bombs, the men in uniform ironically used the code phrase “Buddha is smiling” to indicate to their masters that the tests were successful. The way our internal crisis is brewing, the way India is conducting its business with Pakistan, soon Buddha might be laughing at us.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/12/11/the-myth-of-india-as-a-superpower/

Riaz Haq said...

On February 9, China’s assistant foreign minister, Liu Jianchao, joined his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts in Kabul for the first round of a new trilateral strategic dialogue. The dialogue, attended by Liu, Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, and Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai provided a tantalizing glimpse of what trilateral cooperation between these neighbors could mean for Afghan stability.

As Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying noted in her press conference today, Afghanistan’s security situation was “a major topic” at the trilateral dialogue. All three countries “reaffirmed their commitment to [the] peace and stability of Afghanistan and the region” and China and Pakistan emphasized their support for a peace process “led and owned by the Afghans.”

Though the emphasis was on security, most of the deliverables from the meeting were actually in the economic realm, where China is most comfortable. China committed to helping build a hydro-electric dam on the Kunar River and to constructing new road and railroad connections between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Kunar dam, to be constructed within Afghanistan but close to the Pakistan border, is expected to provide electricity for both countries.

Indeed, the whole theme of the meeting seems to have been greater Afghan-Pakistani cooperation, facilitated by China. Afghanistan’s representatives at the talks specifically asked China to “play a constructive role in promoting bilateral interactions between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” according to Hua. China has a close relationship with Pakistan, often described as an “all-weather friendship.” Kabul hopes that China can use its unique ties with Islamabad to pressure Pakistan into playing a constructive role in Afghan security. Afghanistan in particular wants Pakistan to nudge the Afghan Taliban into negotiations over a true unity government – rather than supporting the group’s more militant ambitions.

Beijing itself hosted representatives from the Taliban last year, in what was widely read as an indication China is willing to play the role of mediator in negotiations. But Afghan officials believe that Pakistan will have to be at the table as well and they hope China can help convince its ally to join the negotiations in good faith. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will be in Islamabad later this week; Kabul will be watching closely.

U.S. officials interviewed by the Wall Street Journal believe that China is ready to become more politically involved in promoting Afghan security – both through mediation and through more concrete measures such as stepping up the training of Afghan troops. However, the recent trilateral dialogue mostly limited itself to economic commitments. Promoting economic projects that will link Afghanistan and Pakistan has undeniable political ramifications, but still relies on the tools (investment and aid) China has grown accustomed to using around the world.

Outside of economic deals, China, Pakistan, and Afghanistan committed to broadening their cooperation on counter-terrorism, but there are no specifics on how the countries will do so. All three countries have suffered from deadly terrorist attacks in the past year and remain concerned about the growing influence of jihadist militants groups (including not only the Talban but Islamic State, which has been ramping up its activities in the region as well).

http://thediplomat.com/2015/02/the-china-pakistan-alliance-the-key-to-afghan-stability/

Riaz Haq said...


The US and India have begun discussions on a intelligence-sharing pact that could tie the two countries’ covert services into one of the closest partnerships the superpower has outside of the “Five Eyes” Treaty signed by the five English-speaking powers after World War II, highly-placed government sources have told The Sunday Express.
First raised ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s summit meeting with President Barack Obama in September, the discussions on the pact will be reviewed by the two leaders on Sunday, the sources said.
The pact would enable India access to encrypted digital traffic its intelligence services are now unable to decipher. It would also make state-of-the-art western espionage technology available to the Directorate of Military Intelligence and the National Technical Research Organisation.
----------
The US has provided a growing volume of information on planned attacks by Pakistan-based groups — helping India preempt at least two attacks on diplomatic facilities in Afghanistan, the last one its consulate in Herat.
However, it does not currently share the raw data or sources from which the warnings are generated — in some cases, making interpretation of information problematic.
There are, sources said, several formidable challenges to be overcome before India can begin purchasing cutting-edge digital intelligence technologies from the US. For example, fearful that equipment can be used to eavesdrop on sensitive information, India insists on domestic security certification for purchases. However, no Indian firm currently certifies EAL7-plus, the most stringent standard for digital security.
Fears also exist that an intelligence-sharing agreement might allow penetration of its own secrets. The Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, which saw the first warming in ties with the US, was deeply embarassed by the disclosure that the CIA had recruited Research and Analysis Wing officer Rabinder Singh. “There will be huge benefits from such a relationship,” said former RAW official Anand Arni, “but also very substantial risks. The devil in such deals is always in the detail, so the fine print will have to be studied very carefully.”

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/talks-on-us-india-seek-close-ties-in-intelligence-sharing/2/

Riaz Haq said...

The key visible feature of most embassy and diplomatic sites that give away their secret spying missions are large windowless areas on top floors, and also sheds or hangers on the roof which are designed to look as though they might contain lift or air conditioning apparatus.

At the US Embassy in Berlin, the lighter coloured panels on the south west, north west and northeast corners of the rooftop surveillance facility are dielectric "radio windows" which allow all types of radio signals to reach collection and analysis equipment on the roof and floor directly below.

The "radio window" panels are made of special material which does not conduct electricity. That is so weak radio signals coming in from all corners of the city are not diminished (attenuated) as they pass into the building and reach the sigint (signals intelligence) antennae.

Usually, dielectric window panels for signals intelligence work are made of plastic or fibreglass. They are often shaped and coloured to look as though they are a normal part of the building, or are special architectural features.

Hidden behind the panels are a range of special monitoring antenna, dishes or arrays which collect every type of commercial and civil mobile, and government communications, including internet traffic, on all available wavelengths.

Rooftop "sheds" like in Berlin can be seen on dozens of US embassies in Europe and around the world, except in "Five Eyes" allied countries such as the UK. Apart from the "collection" sheds, large processing areas are needed to analyse and transmit the result of interception to the global surveillance network.

Windowless top floors, such on the south wing of the Berlin embassy provide "SCIFs" - Secure Compartmented Intelligence Facilities - which are needed to prevent any radio signals from the interception and analysis equipment themselves leaking out. The processing operators and equipment for the "Special Collection Service" are sited in these rooms.

The largest and most obvious US diplomatic surveillance facility in Europe is on the roof of the Geneva consulate, overlooking the United Nations. The Berlin eavesdropping facility is one of the largest, comparable in size to those in sensitive Middle East locations such as Yemen or Cyprus.

When the former GCHQ surveillance installation in Capenhurst in northern England was retired from service and put up for sale (TV link), it was possible to inspect inside and see what the embassy surveillance centre might look like.

The 150 ft (50 metre) tower had been placed directly between two British Telecom microwave radio towers carrying telephone traffic. It was the ideal place to discreetly intercept international telephone calls of the Irish government, businessmen and also those of suspected of involvement with IRA terrorism.

The hi-tech tower included eight floors of advanced electronic equipment and three floors of aerial galleries. These were used to extract and sort the thousands of communications passing through every hour.

http://www.duncancampbell.org/embassy-bugging`

Riaz Haq said...

Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, has been sheltering a Pakistani rebel for several years, much to the annoyance of Pakistan's generals, US embassy cables show.

Brahamdagh Bugti, a leader of the nationalist insurgency in Balochistan province, emerges as a pawn in often stormy relations between Kabul and Islamabad that are spiced with intrigue and failed American efforts to broker a solution.

A stream of Pakistani demands for Bugti's return are stonewalled by Karzai; Bugti is accused of kidnapping a senior UN official; and the Islamabad CIA station chief is roped into an initiative to move Bugti to Ireland that turns out to be based on a false promise.

Bugti's case was a "neuralgic" one for Pakistani generals, Americans believed. The Bugtis are at the forefront of a rebellion that seeks greater economic and political autonomy for Balochistan, Pakistan's largest but least developed province.

The 20-something rebel fled Pakistan in 2006 after surviving a military assault that killed his grandfather, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti. Since then Pakistani generals have frequently accused Kabul of secretly sheltering the young rebel.

In 2007, General Pervez Musharraf said Bugti was "enjoying freedom of movement to commute between Kabul and Kandahar, raising money and planning operations against Pakistani security forces".

When the US assistant secretary of state, Richard Boucher, said Karzai had promised that nobody would be allowed to use Afghan territory to attack Pakistan, Musharraf replied: "That's bullshit."

The controversy touches on one of the Pakistani military's core fears: that India could use Afghan-based proxy forces to foment upheaval in Pakistan.

In 2007 Musharraf said he had "ample proof" of Indian and Afghan support for Bugti; the prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, said Bugti had travelled to Delhi on a fake Afghan passport.

American analysis suggests the fear of Indian meddling helps explain Pakistan's support for militant proxies such as the Afghan Taliban; a view supported by a veiled threat Musharraf issued through a US diplomat. "If India wants to continue, let's see what our options will be," he reportedly said.

Karzai, meanwhile, has refused to bend to Pakistani demands to surrender Bugti, accusing Islamabad of using the issue to deflect attention from its support of the Taliban. "Fomenting uprising does not make one a terrorist," he said in one meeting before asking US officials to stop taking notes because the matter was "too sensitive".

In public, Afghan officials have consistently denied sheltering Bugti, but in a meeting with a senior UN official in February 2009, Karzai "finally admitted that Brahamdagh Bugti was in Kabul", the cables recorded.

The admission followed the kidnapping of a senior American UN official, John Solecki, in Balochistan. After Solecki was snatched from Quetta, Balochistan's capital, in early February, Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, told the US he had phone intercepts that proved Bugti had orchestrated the kidnapping.

On 15 February, the US asked the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, to call Karzai , urging him to speak with Bugti and have Solecki released. Karzai agreed, but said he doubted Bugti was involved. US officials later complained that Karzai was blocking American contact with the rebel.

Solecki was released on 4 April in Balochistan. Speaking to the Guardian by phone later that year, Bugti denied any role in the kidnapping, but admitted he was leading the fight against Pakistan's army.

"We want ownership of our own resources, our land, our coastal belt – nothing else," he said. "We want to solve this problem politically; nobody wants to use the gun. But because of what is happening the armed struggle is necessary." Bugti declined to say where he was speaking from.


http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/30/wikileaks-cables-afghan-pakistani-fugitive

Riaz Haq said...

Hindustan Times: Rajapaksa blames RAW for situation in SL, Pak


In his first comments after losing power in early January, Sri Lanka’s former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has pinned the blame on India’s external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), for the situation in his country as well as in Pakistan. Rajapaksa was speaking to a journalist from the Pakistani daily, Dawn.

When the reporter told him that many Sri Lankans had mentioned how Pakistan helped in quelling the Tamil insurgency, and asked how this was the case, Rajapaksa said, “See the US, Europe, the west, they are not our friends. Pakistan helped us, especially Musharraf. What happened in my country and the insurgency in your country, RAW is behind it.”

Rajapaksa’s charge comes in the wake of a Reuters report in mid January, which said that a RAW official had been asked by the then Rajapaksa government to leave the country before the polls. This was in response to the perception of the old government that RAW had helped cobble up the opposition alliance, which eventually ousted Rajapaksa. The Ministry of External Affairs had rubbished the report, and said no movement of diplomatic personnel had taken place from the Indian embassy in Colombo before their scheduled tenure was over.

MEA did not respond to Rajapaksa’s charge immediately. But a serving intelligence official, speaking to HT, said, “Did we spawn terror in Pakistan? Did we alienate Tamils and Muslims and the Sinhalese opposition? It is easy to blame external actors when you are responsible for the internal mess.” He called it ‘cheap nationalist stunts’.

http://m.hindustantimes.com/india-news/rajapaksa-blames-raw-for-situation-in-sl-pak/article1-1322353.aspx

Riaz Haq said...

Excepts from Mission R&AW by RK Yadav:

Pakhtunistan:

Page 21

" Wali Khan (son of Abul Ghaffar Khan) wanted moral, political and other support from Mrs. Indira Gandhi. R.N. Kao sent hs deputy Sankaran Nair to negotiate as the Indian representative. Since Pakistan embassy was keeping watch on the movements of Wali Khan, the rendezvous was shifted to Copenhagen in Sweden where Nair and another R&AW man of Indian mission I.S. Hassanwalia met Wali Khan. Subsequently all sorts of Indian Government till 1977 when Indira Gandhi lost election".


Agartala Conspiracy:

Page 197

"In view of the disclosures of S.K. Nair, it is evidently true that Mujib was implicated in the Agartala Consiracy case at the instance of Pakistan Government. However, it is also true that other accused in this case were certainly agents of Intelligence Bureau (IB) in India"

Fokker Hijacking in Srinagar:

Page 227:

There was an agent of R&AW-Hashim Qureshi in Srinagar.......R&AW persuaded Hashim Qureshi to work for them....A plan was devised that Qureshi would be allowed to hijack a plane of Indian Airlines rom Srinagar Airport to Lahore where he would demand the release of 36 members of Al-Fatah who were in jail in India in lieu of the passengers on the plane. He was directed not to give control of the plane to he Pakistani authorities until he was allowed to talk to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, who was the chief architect of instigating political turmoil in Pakistan at the time....After the plan was given final shaoe, on January 30, 1971, Hashim Qureshi along with another operative Ashraf Qureshi, his relative, was allowed to hijack a Fokker Friendship plane Ganga of Indian Airlines with 26 passengers on board, to take the plane to Lahore airport. R&AW allowed him to carry a grenade and a toy pistol inside the plane. Pakisani authorities at Lahore airport allowed the plane to land when they were informed that it had been hijacked by National Liberation Front activist militants of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. All India Radio soon made broadcast of this hijacking and the whole world was informed that the Pakistan Government was behind this hijacking. Qureshi, as directed by R&AW, demanded the release of 36 Al-Fatah members in custody of Indian Government....The incident overtly gave India the right opportunity which was planned by R.N. Kao, to cancel the flights of Pakistan over its territory which hampered the plans of Yahya Khan to send its troops by air o curb the political movement of Mujib in East Pakistan.



Mukti Bahini:

Page 231

Mukti Bahinin-Brain Child of R.N. Kao

Since the Indian Army was not prepared and well-equipped to r an immediate army actio at that point (March 1971), it was planned to raise and train a guerrilla outfit of the Bengali refugees of East Pakistan by R&AW which would harass the Pakistan Army till the Indian Army would be ready for the final assault to the liberation of East Pakistan. She (Indira Gandhi) then asked R.N. Kao, Chief of R&AW, to prepare all possible grounds for the army for its final assault when the clearance from General Maneckshaw was received for its readiness for the war.

Page 242

"..He (Kader Siddiqui) was the main operative of R&AW in the most vital areas of strategic operation around Dacca. He was serving Pakistani Army when his brother brought him back to East Pakistan to complete his interrupted education just prior to the crackdown of the Pakistan Army. Kader...."

http://www.scribd.com/doc/232097939/Mission-R-AW-Scanned-Book#scribd

Riaz Haq said...

#Pakistan gives UN files claiming that #India foments violence. #Terrorism http://wpo.st/_3de0

Lohdi told The Associated Press the dossiers include information about “India’s involvement and support to terrorism in different parts of Pakistan.”

One dossier relates to Pakistan’s tribal areas, another relates to Karachi, and the third to the southwestern region of Baluchistan, she said. “So the idea is to really go to the international community through the U.N. secretary-general and to expose the kind of destabilizing actions that India is taking against my country.”

Pakistan and India have a history of uneasy relations and they have fought two of their three wars over the disputed Kashmir region, which is claimed by both countries. Forces on both sides of the Line of Control, which divides Kashmir, have traded fire several times in recent weeks.

Lohdi cited the “escalating tensions in the region” as the reason Islamabad was taking this step. “We believe that these actions must stop,” she said, and she called for a return to dialogue. “We’re ready to go anywhere, at any level, to resume the dialogue process, but this dialogue cannot be on the basis of preconditions.”

She said India had not responded to her move, and she said her country was “disappointed” at the response that India’s foreign minister gave to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Wednesday speech to the U.N. General Assembly — in which Pakistan offered a four-point peace initiative.

She called India’s response the following day “non-serious” and called on India, “Why don’t you put something on the table, too?”

She said Pakistan is in conversation with the U.N. about “how best to take this forward.”

Riaz Haq said...

#Delhi hosting #Baloch insurgent leader Hyrbyar Marri as #India's guest. #Pakistan

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/pakistan-outraged-at-presence-of-baloch-activist-in-india/article7739733.ece …

Indicating the changing policy towards extending support to separatist movements in Pakistan, India on Thursday confirmed the presence of the representative of Baloch leader Nawabzada Hyrbyair Marri in New Delhi.

Confirming the report published in The Hindu, Vikas Swarup, official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said the presence of the Baloch representative proves again that “India has always been home to the persecuted people from all over the world.”

The Hindu had reported on Thursday that the New Delhi-based Balaach Pardili, a representative of the Hyrbyair Marri-led Baloch Liberation Front/Free Balochistan Movement, has begun campaigning for the freedom of Balochistan from Pakistan. The London-based Mr. Marri confirmed to The Hindu that Mr. Pardili has been assigned the task of representing him in public events in India.

Mr. Pardili, who appeared in public on October 4 under the banner of Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena (BSKS), told The Hindu that he is ready to campaign under the banner of BSKS for separation of Balochistan from Pakistan. The Baloch Liberation Front has once again contacted The Hindu to confirm its growing connection with India.

Meanwhile, Pakistan said the presence of Mr. Pardili in Delhi proves India is fomenting trouble in Balochistan. A Pakistani diplomatic source said that in response, Pakistan might take up issues in India’s North-eastern region. The Baloch leadership, in a statement to The Hindu, has reiterated that their presence in India is part of the worldwide strategy of the Baloch fighters to restore the freedom of Balochistan.

In a phone call to The Hindu from London, Mr. Marri said the Baloch exiles in the West are a tiny but effective group of campaigners who have struggled hard to draw India’s attention. “We deserve India’s support as India is the largest democracy and we believe India must shoulder the responsibility of upholding the tradition of democracy and human rights in the South Asian region.”

Riaz Haq said...

Ajit Doval – The #India spy who spent 7 years in #Pakistan Under Cover as a #Muslim. #RAW #BJP #Modi http://zeenews.india.com/news/india/ajit-doval-the-great-indian-spy-who-spent-7-years-in-pakistan-as-a-muslim_1837959.html …

Ever since the Narendra Modi government appointed Ajit Doval the National Security Advisor (NSA), various stories regarding this great Indian spy have been unfolding.
Doval, a highly decorated IPS officer of Kerala Cadre, who retired as Director Intelligence Bureau in 2005, has many interesting and daring stories credited to his stint with the Indian spy agency.

The current NSA, considered as James Bond of India, remained as an undercover agent in Pakistan for seven years posing as a Pakistani Muslim in Lahore.

The NSA has prepared a secret mission to bring India's most wanted man and terrorist Dawood Ibrahim back to India, according to reports.

For years Doval has advocated the improvement of internal security capacities and Defence in a practical manner. Unlike the past NSAs who preferred to look at external issues, Doval concentrates on building India`s internal capacities.

It is the National Security Advisor to whom intelligence agencies such as the Research and Analysis Wing and Intelligence Bureau report, rather than directly to the Prime Minister. Due to such vested powers NSA is a prominent and powerful office in the bureaucracy.

Riaz Haq said...

Times of India Editorial:

A year or so before Ajit Doval became national security adviser, he famously warned Pakistan that a repeat of the Mumbai 26/11attack could lead to Pakistan losing Balochistan. The Doval Doctrine – as it has now come to be known – involves what he calls a “defensive-offensive” strategy where India’s security establishment acquires a sub-conventional secondstrike capability, to be wielded as and when needed.
The Pakistan military establishment is aware that Balochistan is a natural weakness India could exploit with telling impact. In May last year, the Pakistan army’s media machinery all but accused India of fermenting secessionism there.
But here lies the twist. China – as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) – sees the Balochistan port of Gwadar as an integral part of its One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative. Indeed, as former foreign secretary Shyam Saran recently wrote, Gwadar is significant precisely because it is where China’s Maritime Silk Route (“the Road”) meets its Eurasian landbased connectivity project (“the Belt”).
The geopolitical significance of Gwadar to China makes any Indian subconventional response in Balochistan exceedingly complicated. The reality is that the same Balochi rebels who want to secede from Pakistan have also opposed Chinese activities.
This was evident last March when Balochi rebels set fire to five oil tankers servicing a Chinese company. However, it is likely that unrest in that region, organic or manipulated, that hurts Chinese interests could be viewed by Beijing (or could be sold to them), as Indian provocation.
It is also inconceivable that China would sit idle if the separatists, allegedly backed by India, move from being a mere nuisance and acquire the potential to seriously jeopardise their prize – Gwadar – of the $46 billion CPEC investment. China could initiate and enhance its support for militants in the Indian northeast, or worse, encourage and abet Pakistan’s proxy warriors.
Meanwhile, an assertive US AsiaPacific re-balance in the region – in response to China’s naval activism in the South China Sea – is likely to ensure greater US control of the Malacca Strait in order to deter the Chinese from revising marine territorial borders.
China, therefore, seeks alternative routes for its energy supply and goods, which would connect the Strait of Hormuz to a port in the Arabian Sea, along with better land connectivity through the Eurasian landmass.
Even as these new realities reshape multiple arrangements in the region, the challenge for India is to ensure that Balochistan does not transform from being Pakistan’s quagmire to another thorn in the Sino-Indian relationship. India must wean China away from the Gwadar port, and CPEC in general, by offering credible alternatives.
India could fast track its commitment to the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) corridor and invite the Chinese to set up a land connectivity corridor from Kolkata to Gandhinagar, passing through Mumbai. It should also offer to partner with the Chinese to refurbish the NH-6 linking Kolkata to Mumbai.
Finally, it should get the Chinese on-board the Sagarmala initiative, and allow the Chinese to co-develop a port off the coast of Gujarat, which would link up with the Indian-Chinese land connectivity corridor running roughly parallel to the Tropic of Cancer. The financial model for this land initiative could be along the lines of what has been proposed for the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor in collaboration with Japan, and implemented through the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in which India is the second-largest shareholder.


http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-editorials/engage-the-dragon-on-balochistan/

Riaz Haq said...

I think Pakistan currently has the upper hand in both corridor diplomacy and proxy wars in the region, particularly since 2014 when Pakistan Army started acting forcefully against India's proxies, the TTP and the Baloch insurgents.

I expect India to continue to counter Pakistan in both more forcefully as CPEC nears reality.

Riaz Haq said...

Dispose of the notion that #India does not do covert operations (#terrorism) against #Pakistan. #RAW http://thewire.in/2016/03/26/beyond-pakistans-claims-to-have-caught-a-raw-agent-lies-a-wilderness-of-mirrors-26116/ … via @thewire_in

Pakistan’s Dunya News channel said that Jadhav had been arrested from the Chaman area of Balochistan, that his address in Mumbai was No 502B Silver Oak, Powai, Hiranandani Gardens and that he had a passport no. L9630722, with a valid Iranian visa made out in the name of Hussein Mubarak Patel. The channel said that Jadhav had joined RAW in 2013 and was initially based in Chabahar, the port in Iran which India is helping to develop.

The Indian Express has confirmed that Jadhav does indeed live where the Pakistani report says he does, is the son of a former police official in Mumbai, and is a businessman who had interests around the world, though it has not figured out what business he does.


---

The first big question is why a commander-level officer would be involved in a cross-border operation. His rank is the equivalent of a lieutenant colonel in the army, and officers of this rank run operations from a distance, they don’t participate in them.

----

What the Jadhav arrest has done is to bring to the public domain the covert war that India is fighting against Pakistan. We know a lot about the Pakistani war against India, but not so much about the Indian effort. It also opens up the possibility that this war, bitter though it may be, can also be fought with some rules – principally, that arrested agents are treated with dignity, not just by those who arrest them, but in their own home country after they return.

Spies who have served the country with great fortitude and suffered torture and long terms of imprisonment are left to rot when and if they manage to return home, usually after long spells of imprisonment. This is in stark contrast to the practices of countries like Russia, Israel, the US or Britain, which sticks by its men, and, in the right circumstances quietly arranges exchanges.

Riaz Haq said...

#Pakistan releases cofessional video of #India spy Kulbhushan Yadav admitting to #RAW role in #Balochistan: Pakistan http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/indian-spy-admits-to-raw-role-in-balochistan-pakistan-116032901151_1.html#.VvqfeFaB-ME.twitter …

Pakistan on Tuesday released a video in which an arrested Indian spy is heard confessing New Delhi's alleged involvement in terrorist activities in Balochistan.

Kulbushan Yadav says in the video that he had been directing various activities in Karachi and Balochistan "at the behest of RAW", the Indian intelligence agency, and that he was still with the Indian Navy.

Yadav added that he had played a role in the deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi, Dawn reported.

The video was released at a press conference attended by Pakistan Army spokesman Lt Gen Asim Bajwa and Information Minister Pervez Rashid.

Terming Yadav's arrest a "big achievement", Bajwa said Yadav was directly handled by the RAW chief and Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.

"His goal was to disrupt development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), with Gwadar port as a special target," Bajwa said.

"This is nothing short of state-sponsored terrorism... There can be no clearer evidence of Indian interference in Pakistan."

Yadav is heard saying in the video that he was still a serving officer in the Indian Navy and would be due for retirement in 2022.

"By 2002, I commenced intelligence operations. In 2003, I established a small business in Chabahar in Iran.

"As I was able to achieve undetected existence and visits to Karachi in 2003 and 2004. Having done some basic assignments within India for RAW, I was picked up by RAW in 2013 end," Yadav said.

He said his purpose was to meet Baloch insurgents and carry out "activities with their collaboration".

Law enforcement agencies arrested Yadav in an intelligence-based raid in Balochistan's Chaman near the border with Afghanistan last week. He held a valid Indian visa.

India denied Yadav was an intelligence operative and said he was formerly from the navy. New Delhi also demanded consular access to Yadav, which has been denied.

Yadav was shifted to Islamabad for interrogation, during which an unnamed official said the spy revealed he had bought boats at the Iranian port in Chabahar in order to target Karachi and Gwadar ports, Dawn reported.

Riaz Haq said...

Chuck Hagel’s Indian Problem
Said allied nation is funding attacks on Pakistan in Afghanistan in previously unreleased 2011 speech

http://freebeacon.com/politics/chuck-hagels-indian-problem/

Secretary of defense nominee Chuck Hagel suggested in a previously unreleased 2011 speech that India has “for many years” sponsored terrorist activities against Pakistan in Afghanistan.

“India has over the years financed problems for Pakistan” in Afghanistan, Hagel said during a 2011 address regarding Afghanistan at Oklahoma’s Cameron University, according to video of the speech obtained by the Free Beacon.

The controversial comments mark a departure from established United States policy in the region and could increase tensions between the Obama administration and India should the Senate confirm Hagel on Tuesday, according to experts.

------

Hagel’s 2011 remarks at Cameron University were released to the Free Beacon under the Oklahoma Open Records Act. The university had initially stated that Hagel would have to personally authorize the speech’s release, though no authorization was ultimately granted.

Riaz Haq said...

#India’s secret war against #Pakistan. by Praveen Swami #KulbhushanJadhav #Balochistan #RAW #ajitdoval

http://www.frontline.in/the-nation/indias-secret-war/article10055129.ece

he implications of the questions raised by the Kulbhushan Jadhav case go far beyond Jadhav’s fate. It is time India reflects seriously on its expanding programme of covert action and its long-term consequences. By PRAVEEN SWAMI
FOR six hours, the hired car had driven through a forest of shadows, cast by the mountains of Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan province—for generations, a refuge for smugglers, insurgents and spies. Heading towards Saravan, a town of 50,000 some 20 kilometres from the border with Pakistan, the car was carrying a businessman from Mumbai to a meeting. The men he wanted to meet were waiting, but there were others, too: like every spy story, this one ended in betrayal.

India knows something of what happened next: Kulbhushan Jadhav is now on death row, awaiting execution, after a hurried trial by a military court in Pakistan which found him guilty of espionage.

------------------------

Ever since 2013, India has secretly built up a covert action programme against Pakistan, seeking to retaliate against jehadists and deter their sponsors in the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate. Led by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, and now by Research and Analysis Wing’s (RAW) Anil Dhasmana, the programme has registered unprecedented success, hitting hard against organisations such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Muhammad. But the story of the man on death row illustrates that this secret war is not risk-free. Lapses in tradecraft and judgment, inevitable parts of any human enterprise, can inflict harm far greater than the good they seek to secure.


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the Kulbhushan Jadhav case ought to raise questions about whether India’s intelligence bosses are devoting the kind of granular attention that the issue requires to insulate the country from the potential risks. The questions over Jadhav’s passports, the opacity of his business operations and, most important, the lack of transparency about his connection to the Indian Navy, have all made it difficult for the government of India to dissociate itself from his cause—the usual, necessary fate of the spy. It is also not clear why, if he is indeed a spy, he was not withdrawn after Uzair Baluch’s arrest, an elementary precaution.

Perhaps more importantly, there ought to be a serious political debate cutting across party lines on the possible consequences of covert action.

--------

Precedents do exist to resolve situations like this. Gary Powers, the pilot of a CIA espionage flight shot down over the Soviet Union in May 1960—and reviled by his colleagues for not committing suicide—was eventually exchanged for the legendary KGB spy Vilyam Genrikhovich Fisher.

In both New Delhi and Islamabad, there are rumours the two capitals are working on just such a deal—possibly involving former ISI officer Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Zahir Habib, alleged to have been kidnapped by India—or a wider deal, which could see the release of multiple espionage convicts.

Both countries have much to gain from a dispassionate conversation on the case—on the norms that ought to govern covert activity of the one against the other, and on the inexorable consequences of the secret war Pakistan has long run.

For that, the Kulbhushan Jadhav case needs to be elevated above prime-time ranting and opened up for rational discussion.

Ahmed said...


Dear Sir

Thanks for your post, is it true that after when former nominee for the position of US Defence Secretary Mr.Chuk Hagel gave this speech in Cameron University in Oklohoma State in 2011, the Indian lobbies working in America immediately came into action and contacted President Obama and informed him to take a notice of this?

Soon after this as far as I know, the speech of Mr.Chuk Hagel was blocked or banned. Many newspaper 1st published this speech as news but later some newspapers haven't published this speech as news.