Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Pakistan Releases Indian RAW Agent Kulbushan Yadav's Confessional Video

Pakistan has released a confessional video in which an arrested Indian spy is heard admitting to New Delhi's involvement in terrorist activities in the Pakistan's province of Balochistan and the megacity of Karachi.

Kulbushan Yadav's Fake ID as Hussein Mubarak Patel 
Serving Indian Navy commander Kulbushan Yadav says in the video that he had been directing various Indian intelligence operations in Karachi and Balochistan "at the behest of RAW", the Indian intelligence agency, and that he was still with the Indian Navy. It should be noted that India is on record as strongly opposing China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Project.

Yadav added that he had played a key role in inciting chaos and terror in Karachi. In interrogations done by the London Police, some top MQM leaders have confirmed receiving support from India's RAW for their criminal activities in Karachi.


Scotland Yard Police Document on MQM-RAW Link

Pakistani law enforcement agencies arrested Yadav in an intelligence-based raid in Balochistan's Chaman near the border with Afghanistan last week. 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". 

 The video was released at a press conference attended by Pakistan Army spokesman Lt Gen Asim Bajwa of ISPR (Inter-Services Press Relations) and Federal Information Minister Pervez Rashid.

Calling Yadav's arrest a "big achievement", Bajwa said Yadav was directly in contact with top RAW officials. "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.

Yadav said his purpose was to remain in direct contact with Baloch insurgents and carry out "activities with their collaboration".

He held a valid Indian passport and Iranian visa. India has denied Yadav was an intelligence operative and said he was formerly from the navy. New Delhi has also demanded consular access to Yadav, which has been denied.

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

India's intelligence agency RAW has a long history of sponsoring covert wars in Pakistan. Ex Indian spy R.K. Yadav has documented some of RAW's past successes in Pakistan stretching back to 1960s.

Ex US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has confirmed based on US intelligence reports that "India has always used Afghanistan as a second front against Pakistan. India has over the years been financing problems in Pakistan".   

Since 2013, India's current National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has been talking about "Pakistan's vulnerabilities" to terrorism and India's ability to take advantage of it.  The latest arrest of Indian agent Kulbhushan Yadav is confirmation of the Doval Doctrine against Pakistan in action. 

Here's Yadav's Confessional video:

https://youtu.be/0auEKYECyUM




https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x40nno0_indian-raw-agent-kulbhushan-yadav-s-confession_news



Indian RAW agent Kulbhushan Yadav's confession by khalidkhan787

Here's a discussion on the subject:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHgkHscv0IA&feature=youtu.be




Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Has Modi Stepped Up India's Covert War in Pakistan?

Ex India Spy Documents Successful RAW Ops in Pakistan

London Police Document Confirms MQM-RAW Connection Testimony

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor

Ajit Doval Lecture on "How to Tackle Pakistan" 


26 comments:

Unknown said...

It's not just RAW west is also complicit in destabilising Pakistan ,who do you think created ISIS

Anonymous said...

In the minds of Pakistanis, whole world is after them. My goodness what delusion.

Riaz Haq said...

Full Transcript of #India's #RAW agent Kulbhushan's confessional statement given in #Pakistan http://www.brecorder.com/top-news/world/287445-transcript-of-raw-agent-kulbhushans-confessional-statement.html …

"My name is Commander Kulbhushan Yadav and I am the serving officer of Indian Navy. I am from the cadre of engineering department of Indian Navy and my cover name was Hussein Mubarik Patel, which I had taken for doing some intelligence gathering for the Indian agencies.

"I joined the National Defence Academy in 1987 and subsequently joined Indian Navy on January 1991 and subsequently served for the Indian Navy till around December 2001 when the Parliament attack occurred and that is when I started contributing my services towards the gathering of information and intelligence within India.

"I live in the city of Mumbai in India. I am still the serving officer in the Indian Navy and will be due for retirement by 2022 as a commissioned officer in Indian Navy after having completed 14 years of service by 2002.

"I commenced intelligence operation in 2003 and established small business in Chabahar in Iran as I was able to achieve undetected existence and visits to Karachi in 2003 and 2004 and having done some basic assignments within India for RAW.

"I was picked up by RAW in 2013 end. Ever since I have been directing various activities in Balochistan and Karachi at the behest of RAW and deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi, I was basically the man for Mr Ani Kumar Gupta who is the joint secretary RAW and his contacts in Pakistan especially in Balochistan Student Organization.

"My purpose was to hold meetings with Baloch insurgents and carry out activities with their collaboration.

"These activities have been of criminal nature. This have been of anti-national, terrorists leading into the killing of or maiming the Pakistani citizens also.

"I realize during this process that RAW is involved in some activities related to the Baloch liberation movement within Pakistan and the region around it.

"There are finances which are fed into Baloch movement through various contacts or various ways and means into the Baloch liberation (movement) and various activities of the Baloch liberation and the RAW handlers go towards activities which are criminal, which are anti-national, which can lead to maiming or killing of people within Pakistan and mostly these activities were centered around of what I have knowledge is of ports of Gwadar, Pasni Jewani and various other installations, which are around the coast damaging various other installations, which are in Balochistan.

Riaz Haq said...

Full Transcript of #India's #RAW agent Kulbhushan's confessional statement given in #Pakistan http://www.brecorder.com/top-news/world/287445-transcript-of-raw-agent-kulbhushans-confessional-statement.html …contd

"So the activity seems to be revolving trying to create a criminal sort of mindset within the Baloch liberation and leads to instability within Pakistan. In my pursuit towards achieving the set targets by my handlers in RAW, I was trying to cross over into Pakistan from the Saravan border in Iran on March 3, 2016 and was apprehended by the Pakistani authorities while on the Pakistani side and the main aim of this crossing over into Pakistan was to hold (a) meeting with the Baloch separatists in Balochistan for carrying out various activities, which they were supposed to undertake and carrying backwards the messages which had to deliver to the Indian agencies.

"The main issues regarding this were that they were planning to conduct some operations within the next immediate (near) future so that was to be discussed mainly and that was the main aim of trying to coming into Pakistan.

"So that moment I realized that my intelligence operations have been compromised on my being detained in Pakistan, I revealed that I am an Indian naval officer, and it is on mentioning that I am Indian naval officer, the total perception of the establishment of the Pakistani side changed and they treated me very honorably and they did utmost respect and due regards and have handled me subsequently on a more professional and proper courteous way and they have handled me in a way that befits that of an officer and once I realized that I have been compromised in my process of intelligence operations, I decided to just end the mess I have landed myself in and just wanted to subsequently move on and cooperate with the authorities in removing the complications which I have landed myself and my family members into, and whatever I am stating just now, it is the truth and it is not under any duress or pressure.

I am doing it totally out of my own desire to mention and come clean out of this entire process which I have gone through last 14 years."

Riaz Haq said...

#Pakistan Releases Video of #India Officer Admitting Sponsoring, Orchestrating #terrorism, #separatist movements http://nyti.ms/22MfB97
Civilian and military leaders in Pakistan accused India on Tuesday of sponsoring and orchestrating terrorism and separatist movements, presenting what they said was clear evidence: a video confession.

Pakistani officials say they arrested Kulbhushan Yadav, an officer in the Indian Navy, this month in Baluchistan, a mineral-rich province in southwestern Pakistan where an insurgency has simmered for years. Officials in Pakistan have accused India of fanning separatist sentiment there.

The information minister in Pakistan, Pervaiz Rasheed, and Lt. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa, the military spokesman, released a six-minute video of Mr. Yadav at a news conference in Islamabad, Pakistan, the capital. “It is very rare that a country’s intelligence officer is caught in another country,” Lt. Gen. Bajwa told reporters. “It is a big achievement.”

The timing of the release of the video on Tuesday was notable. It came on the same day that a Pakistani team of investigators was visiting Pathankot in India, the site of a terrorist attack in January that India says was the work of gunmen from Pakistan.

Referring to the video, General Bajwa said, “There can be no clearer evidence of Indian interference in Pakistan,” and added that Mr. Yadav’s activities were “nothing short of state-sponsored terrorism.”

In the video, Mr. Yadav appears relaxed as he acknowledges carrying out a long list of operations in Baluchistan and in Karachi, the major southern port. Mr. Yadav is heard to say that he is a naval officer, with six years to go before retirement, and that he was enlisted in 2013 to join RAW, the Indian intelligence agency. Since then, he said, he has been involved in a variety of activities meant to destabilize Pakistan.

India has denied that Mr. Yadav is an intelligence operative.

General Bajwa said Mr. Yadav told the Pakistanis to use a code phrase in communicating with the Indian authorities, to demonstrate to them who it was that they had captured. The phrase, the general said, was “Your monkey is with us.”

Riaz Haq said...

Vanished RAW Spies by Ranjit Bhushan Outlook India 2004

The wheel has come full circle at the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). Already reeling under the impact of the Rabinder Singh episode—the senior RAW officer is suspected to have defected to the US—there may be more skeletons tumbling out now at India's premier spy agency. For the first time, the firm has admitted that eight of its key operatives have gone missing—almost all while on critical assignments outside the country— since the agency's creation in the late '60s. Rabinder is the ninth such known man on the defectors' list (accessed by Outlook).

The file with the names is now on the desk of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Most of the cases go back a few decades but some names are likely to cause deep embarrassment in the spy community. Most of these operatives disappeared while on posting, relocating themselves to countries in North America and West Europe under assumed names and false passports. A number of them, it now turns out, were well-guarded 'assets' in the hands of foreign agencies, a euphemism for double agents, and are now green card holders in the United States or UK citizens.

Now with the Rabinder Singh episode opening up a can of worms, RAW has been forced into damage control mode. Last fortnight, the PM ordered the file detailing the missing ex-RAW sleuths to be put up before him. Incidentally, that's when intelligence officials sought to make a differentiation between those who had settled down in the US or UK after retirement—and coincidentally there are scores of them—and those who disappeared without a trace with important confidential documents and information. The list of nine belongs to the latter category.

Prominent among the names is Sikandar Lal Malik, personal assistant of RAW founder and superspy, Ramnath Kao. Malik, say RAW sources, was privy to the top-secret decisions taken by Kao during the tumultuous early '70s, including the plan to "liberate" Bangladesh. On a US posting, Malik disappeared one fine morning and is presumed to be living somewhere in that country now. His defection was a closely guarded secret for many years and is only now being acknowledged as a 'blow' to the agency's reputation.

According to sources, it took the agency several years to assess the damage caused: Malik had crucial information because most of Kao's highly secret correspondence was handled by him. For foreign agencies, which otherwise had little access to Kao, the 'winning over' of Malik was a coup. This, because with Malik went a treasure trove of classified information, which may not have been known to anyone other than Kao himself and his boss, the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi.

Other operatives on the missing list:

M.S. Sehgal, a senior field officer close to former RAW chief Girish Saxena. Disappeared while posted as attache in London in 1980.

N.Y. Bhaskar, a former attache in Tokyo, managed a green card; was supposed to be liaisoning with the cia. Later, disappeared without a trace in the US.

B.R. Bachhar, senior field officer, disappeared in London. As attache in Kathmandu, he was liaisoning with foreign intelligence agencies in the early '80s.

Major R.S. Soni, an undersecretary in RAW on the Pakistan desk at HQ, is believed to have escaped to Canada in the early '80s. Three months after escape, salary was still being deposited in his account.

Shamsher Singh Maharajkumar, an ex-IPS officer posted in Islamabad, Bangkok and Canada. Reportedly settled in Canada after retirement. He's related to the royal family of Nabha in Punjab.


http://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/the-vanished-spies/224695

Rizwan said...

It's one thing to release a confession video, and another to actually get diplomatic and political mileage out of this event. It remains to be seen, since as you mentioned, Pakistan's Foreign Office is very weak and incompetent.

Riaz Haq said...

Indian Express story on Kulbhushan Yadav:

Facts pieced together by The Indian Express show no evidence Jadhav worked for Indian intelligence services, but raises intriguing questions about how he ended up in Iran in the first place. In November 2003, Jadhav obtained a passport (E6934766) from Pune, identifying him by the pseudonym Hussein Mubarak Patel.

Born in 1968 (according to the passport), Jadhav joined the National Defence Academy in 1987, and was commissioned as a Naval engineer in 1990. According to colleagues, he rose to the rank of Commander after 14 years of service — one more than is the norm.
But within months of his passport being issued in Pune, Jadhav ended up in the Chabahar free trade zone, then a hub of Indian hopes to set up a transit route into Afghanistan and Iran. He told his family he was setting up a business to service trawlers and ferries operating out of the port, said friends.

To two friends in the Navy, who declined to identified, Jadhav gave varying accounts of why he had left the service. To one, he dropped broad hints of being involved in government-linked activity. “He never showed up at the usual reunion kind of things. He’d pretty much disappeared,” said one friend.
The address given to obtain his passport — the Martand Co-operative Housing Society in the Sai Vishwa area of Pune suburb Bavdhan — is incomplete. The records do not even state which apartment Jadhav may have occupied in the three-building complex.
Vijay Deshmukh, secretary of the building society, said records show no apartment was owned by anyone with the surnames Jadhav or Patel. None of the residents recognised Jadhav from a photogrtaph shown to them.
However, Deshmukh said, “In the past, the norms of registration of tenants with police were not as stringent as they are these days.”
Electronic tags on the Pune passport office’s computer system show an earlier passport was held by Husein Mubarak Patel but there were no details of the address this document was issued for since it was done before computerised records were introduced. “It’s a common method to pick up a fake identity. The fact that there is an earlier passport with valid visas makes getting new ones that much easier,” said a Delhi Police officer.
“But I can’t think why an intelligence officer should have gone through this subterfuge to obtain a pseudonymous passport. Let’s put it this way: there are systems in place to handle this kind of thing,” said a former RAW officer.
Little is known of Jadhav’s life in Iran — there are no records and his family has declined to publicly discuss details of his business or life. Government sources say he owned a small cargo-shipping business and dealt in scrap metal. The embassy in Tehran also had no contact with him, said sources.
“There’s a lot of people-trafficking through Chabahar with traffickers routing migrants from India and Pakistan seeking to go west,” said an Indian businessman based there.
Like many border zones, Chabahar is also a listening post for intelligence services, including R&AW, where information is sold on everything from shipping and construction activity to trafficking.
In 2014, Jadhav obtained the passport he was eventually arrested with in Pakistan, L9630722, issued in Thane. This time, he identified himself as a resident of the Jasdanwala Complex on the old Mumbai-Pune road cutting through Navi Mumbai. The flat, municipal records show, was owned by his mother Avanti Jadhav.
This time, he made no effort to conceal his identity. “He came just once every few years but would talk to everyone,” said a salesman at a bike shop on the ground floor. To one resident, who asked about his excellent Marathi, he claimed to be a Muslim businessman born in Satara. Building society chairman, S Bhoir, said Avanti Avanti Jadhav told him he “was a close family friend.”

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/pakistans-spy-video-raw-kulbhushan-yadav-confession-india-mea/

Riaz Haq said...

“I Think #Pathankot Was Assisted By A (Drug-smuggling) Sleeper Cell.” Ex DGP Sashikant Sharma. #Drugs #Punjab #India http://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/i-think-pathankot-was-assisted-by-a-sleeper-cell/296447 …

It is said no one knows more about Punjab’s nefarious drug smuggler-politician nexus than Shashikant Sharma, a retired DGP of Punjab Police and now an anti-drug crusader. He claims that as the head of the int­elligence wing of the state police, he had in 2007 compiled a list of prominent Punjab politicians and police officers involved in the trade. The mysterious list has never been revealed by the government, despite persistent prodding by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Among the clutch of petitions currently being heard by the court on Punjab’s drug problem, one even seeks Sharma’s custodial interrogation to make him reveal what he knows. Now that cross-border narco-terrorism, with the alle­ged involvement of bent police officers, is in focus after the attack on the Pathankot air force base, Sharma speaks to Chander Suta Dogra about his crusade to expose those at the top and where it has led him.
The Pathankot attack has once again brought the focus on the drug smuggler-police nexus, particularly as the role of Salwinder Singh, the SP in Gurdaspur, is under a cloud. What is your gut feeling about the alleged involvement of police officials in the episode?
To explain this, allow me to go back to the mid-1980s, when present-day drug barons and cross-border smugglers were busy changing their business from gold to heroin. Gold smuggling was becoming less lucrative and heroin was the new thing coming in from Pakistan for onw­ard transmission through Punjab. Margins were attractive and parallely arms and explosives also began coming in. This was also the beginning of sleeper cells of terrorist groups. Their task was to hide the incoming arms in safehouses along the borders. In time, these cells began safe­-keeping drugs during the ‘cooling period’ after the crossover.

When I began investigating these matters in 2007, we found the drug business to be well-layered, with politicians at the top giving protection. My team also learnt that some were running the business directly with the help of gang members. The next was the layer of sleeper cells hiding consignments. Another layer followed, consisting of personnel from the security forces, including police, which helped them both to cross in and in onward transportation. These were usually middle and mid-lower segments of security forces. And then came the safehouses and an entire chain of couriers who took drugs to rendezvous and shipping-out points. This modus operandi still exists. Given this background, which I know like the back of my hand, I’m not surprised at the Dinanagar or Pathankot attacks. These sleeper cells are entr­en­ched not only along the borders but all over the country. I think the Pathankot attack was assisted by one such cell.

Riaz Haq said...

Business Recorder Editorial:

Only a senior, seasoned spy would so openly and copiously confess his espionage peccadilloes' as Kulbushan Yadav has done. Caught red handed, and realising his game is over for good, the best option with him was to tell the whole truth and win sympathies of his captors - and Yadav did just that. "My name is Commander Kulbushan Yadav and I am serving officer of Indian navy ... I was basically the man for Mr Anil Kumar Gupta who is the joint secretary of RAW and his contacts in Pakistan, especially in Balochistan Student Organisation". He couldn't be more candid. India has neither denied his existence nor his link with its navy; its only denial is, that as of now, Yadav is no more a serving officer. India was expected to dispute all what he has revealed, as any government would do, much less a country that is widely known for its interference in the internal affairs of its neighbours. And not that India's interference in Balochistan as revealed by Kulbushan Yadav is a rare breakthrough; India is involved in it for a long time now. The then prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, had conveyed Pakistan's concern over this to his then counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh at the 15th summit of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Sharm el-Sheikh; the latter had agreed to 'look into it'. And a few weeks earlier, Pakistan presented a complete dossier containing instances of India's spying adventures to stir up trouble in Balochistan to the United Nations. There is however one big departure from the previous times; now a serving officer of Indian armed forces has been caught red handed, an instance that tends to directly establish beyond any doubt, that India's intelligence agency, RAW, is engaged in fomenting state-sponsored terrorism in Balochistan, Karachi and some other parts of Pakistan. Pakistan would therefore be within its right to apprise the United Nations of India's nefarious designs and take into confidence its allies and neighbours on this. Since Yadav was using his presence in Iranian seaport Chahbahar as base for his subversive work in Pakistan, the Army Chief General Raheel Sharif thought it proper to inform visiting President Hassan Rouhani that his country's soil was being misused by the RAW, but certainly not that it had the blessings of his government.

India's obstructive mindset to disrupt the Pak-China co-operative relationship is not new nor does it seem to be relenting. Its latest target therefore is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, particularly the China-assisted development of the Gwadar seaport. Kulbushan Yadav's latest errand was to help RAW recruit 30 to 40 local people and attack the main hotel in Gwadar where Chinese engineers stay. He was also to exchange messages between the Baloch separatists and RAW. But before Yadav could undertake this errand, he was apprehended at the Sarawan checkpost as he crossed over from Iran. And now as Kulbushan Yadav sings like a canary, it comes to light how deeply involved New Delhi is in destabilising Pakistan. Since his first visits to Pakistan in 2003 and 2004 Yadav has been "directing various activities in Karachi and Balochistan at the behest of RAW". The government would do well by exposing India's sinister agenda against Pakistan. At a joint presser with Information Minister Pervez Rashid on Tuesday last, the ISPR chief, Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa, expressed determination that government will take the case of the RAW agent to its logical conclusion, using both international and regional forums. While we always knew how deeply India is involved in fomenting trouble and destabilising Pakistan, but the world outside remained indifferent and unmoved. Here is now irrefutable evidence of that sinister involvement, for the world to see and act in the larger interest of regional stability and peace between two nuclear rivals.

http://www.brecorder.com/editorials/0/32071/

Riaz Haq said...

The Indian Spy
Who Fell for Tibet
Sent by Britain to carry out a secret survey,
Sarat Chandra Das became enchanted instead.

Among the pundits, Das stood out, a scholar who offered his services as a spy in order to pursue his academic interests. It was as if James Bond volunteered to hunt down Blofeld, booking his own flights and hotels, all to improve his Japanese. Das persuaded his assistant, a lama named Ugyen Gyatso, to visit the Tashilhunpo monastery, in south-central Tibet, and talk him up as a theology student. The monastery’s prime minister was keen to learn Hindi, so Ugyen Gyatso, promising that Das was a fine tutor, wangled a passport for him. Presented with this document, Indian officials, now enthusiastic, gave Das indefinite leave and a crash course in spycraft. During his first trip, to Tashilhunpo in 1879, he studied Tibetan customs and so impressed the prime minister that he was invited back. In November 1881, Das returned, the vision of Lhasa glimmering before him.

The two reports Das wrote about his second, 14-month journey were kept confidential until the 1890s and then published, with severe redactions, in small print runs. In 1902, they were compiled into a book, ‘‘Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet.’’ The opening pages are tough going, brimming with place names: ‘‘On ascending about 3,000 feet above the Kalai valley, we enjoyed distant views of Pema-yangtse, Yantang, Hi, Sakyang, and other villages.’’ Still, all this was valuable information. In those days, so little was known that even the most quotidian details — the appearance of houses, the location of a pasture — shone with significance.
------
In the end, Das lingers in Lhasa for only two weeks and returns, via Tashilhunpo, to Darjeeling. In a sense, though, he never leaves Tibet. He names his house Lhasa Villa, and he spends the remainder of his life translating Tibetan texts, compiling a Tibetan-English dictionary, thinking incessantly about the land he left behind.

The epilogue mars the tale. After the nature of Das’s trip was discovered, the Chinese persecuted anyone who assisted him. Tashilhunpo’s prime minister was murdered, his body thrown into a river. In 1903-4, a British expedition finally broke into Lhasa, and soldiers freed a former official, imprisoned for 20 years for helping Das. The old man, The North China Herald reported, blinked ‘‘at the unaccountable light like a blind man whose sight had been miraculously restored.’’ The analogy is impossible to miss: Tibet, too, had been released from China’s iron fist into the light. But much of this was ephemeral. Half a century later, China snatched Tibet back into its orbit; the Dalai Lama fled into exile. Only Das’s beloved Lhasa endures, the gleaming white walls of Potala still draped over their outcrop of rock like fresh snow upon a mountaintop.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/magazine/the-indian-spy-who-fell-for-tibet.html?_r=0

Riaz Haq said...

#India Weighs Investing Up to $20 Billion in #Iran #Energy Industry & Ports. Aimed to hurt #Pakistan? http://bloom.bg/22m9pPD via @business

India may invest as much as $20 billion in Iran’s energy industry and ports and boost imports of crude from the the Persian Gulf nation if it gets favorable terms, India’s Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said in an interview.
Indian companies are evaluating opportunities to explore for oil and natural gas, build petrochemical plants and gas-processing facilities and expand ports including the new industrial hub of Chabahar, Pradhan said Saturday during a visit to Tehran. The two countries agreed to plan for development of Iran’s Farzad-B gas field, with the aim of deciding whether to award a contract to an Indian group by October, according to a copy of the memorandum signed by the ministers and posted on Pradhan’s Twitter account.
“We were importing a good amount of oil from Iran in the challenging days, so we will continue to import that amount,” Pradhan said. “That’s a business level discussion regarding my companies -- if they will be getting good terms they may increase their import.” India is buying about 350,000 barrels of Iranian crude a day, Iran’s oil minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, said after meeting Pradhan, according to the ministry’s news service Shana.
Paying Euros
Iran is seeking foreign investment to revive its oil, gas and petrochemical industries since international sanctions on its economy were removed in January. India was one of six buyers authorized to purchase Iranian oil under U.S. restrictions. Buyers still owe Iran oil payments because the curbs hampered their ability to transfer funds, and U.S. rules continue to bar them using dollars to pay for Iranian oil.
India will use euros to pay $6 billion in oil payments it owes Iran, Pradhan said.
Indian firms are targeting the development of Chabahar on Iran’s Gulf of Oman coast outside the Strait of Hormuz, he said. About a fifth of the oil consumed worldwide each day passes through the Strait, a shipping choke point that separates the Persian Gulf from the Gulf of Oman and Indian Ocean. Pradhan gave no target dates for potential investment in Iran by Indian companies.
Saudi Arabia is interested in investing in refineries that India is expanding, Pradhan said, referring to talks the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held during a visit this month to Saudi Arabia. Refineries planned by Hindustan Petroleum Corp. in Rajasthan and a new facility planned by India’s state-run oil processors were among the investment opportunities that Indian and Saudi officials discussed during that visit, he said.

Riaz Haq said...

#Pakistan Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif says #India intelligence #RAW waging covert war to stop #CPEC. #China

http://www.voanews.com/content/pakistan-accuses-india-plotting-against-deal-with-china/3282979.html


GWADAR, PAKISTAN—
Pakistan's military chief on Tuesday accused India's intelligence agency of planning subversive activities against his country's recently launched multi-billion-dollar economic cooperation agreement with China.

"I must highlight that India, our immediate neighbor, has openly challenged this development initiative," army chief General Raheel Sharif told a conference in the port city of Gwadar.

The newly built port in southwestern Baluchistan province is central to the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, which is a package of railroads, highways, pipelines and power plants estimated to cost $46 billion.

Sharif said "hostile intelligence agencies" are averse to this grand project, but that Pakistan is determined to protect and develop the CPEC, connecting western China to the Arabian Sea.

"I would like to make a special reference to Indian Intelligence Agency RAW [Research and Analysis Wing] that is blatantly involved in destabilizing Pakistan,” the general asserted.

History of suspicion

Pakistan has long accused India of training and funding separatist militants waging a low-level insurgency in Baluchistan.

Last month, Pakistani authorities announced they captured a suspected Indian spy in Baluchistan, identified as Kulbhushan Jadhav. The military also aired video footage of Jadhav saying he was working out of his base in Chabahar in neighboring Iran.

New Delhi has confirmed that Jadhav is a former Indian navy officer, but denied he has anything to do with RAW, saying he had taken early retirement from the military. It also rejected the video confession of Jadhav as induced by torture.

India says it has sought consular access to its detained national, but Pakistan has not yet responded.

Sharif described CPEC as a corridor of peace and prosperity, not only for the people of Pakistan and China, but also for the region and beyond.

"Therefore, it is important for all to leave behind confrontation, and focus on cooperation," he added.

Riaz Haq said...

#UK ex-diplomat in #Karachi #Pakistan says #MQM leader #AltafHusain acknowledged working for #India's #RAW http://www.thenews.com.pk/print/111645-UK-ex-diplomat-says-Altaf-accepted-working-for-RAW …

Britain’s former deputy head of Mission in Karachi Shaharyar Khan Niazi has claimed that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s leader Altaf Hussain voluntarily told the British government that he worked for the Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

Shaharyar Khan Niazi worked for the British High Commission in Karachi for over a decade but importantly he remained at the heart of the policymaking as far Britain’s dealing with the MQM was concerned during the most crucial period – from 2010 until 2013 – after he was promoted to the position of Deputy Head of Mission.

In his first ever exclusive interview for ‘Geo News’ with this correspondent after quitting his post in the middle of 2013, Shahryar Khan Niazi revealed that Altaf Hussain confessed to his involvement with RAW during a high-profile diplomatic meeting in late 2011/early 2012. Niazi claimed that the British government and Scotland Yard had evidence that a written agreement existed between the MQM and the Indian premier spy agency RAW.

The former UK diplomat is privy to crucial information and was witness – as well as a part of it being in his important position - to the sensitive and important communications went on between the UK authorities and the MQM. According to Shahryar Khan Niazi, there is evidence linking Altaf Hussain with the Indian government.

“The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) is well aware of the fact that Altaf Hussain has links with RAW.”

When asked what the evidence was that the UK had on Altaf Hussain's links to RAW, the former deputy head of mission told Geo News: “There is a lot of evidence but let me share with you the most important one. Firstly, a member of Her Majesty’s diplomatic service officially called on Altaf Hussain around 2011/12 and during that meeting Altaf Hussain voluntarily confessed and accepted that he worked for RAW. Secondly, there is evidence that Altaf Hussain’s team facilitated contacts between the RAW and Baloch insurgents. Hussain’s team helped bring the two together. Thirdly, there are financial trail of links with the RAW; and fourthly, confessional statements about these links exist and one of these has been leaked already, there are on-the-record interviews and confessions. What has come out in the public domain so far is only a tip of the iceberg.”

The former deputy head of mission made the most damning revelation that Altaf Hussain and his team had a documented agreement with RAW and the police had evidence of that. “Altaf Hussain and his team have a Service Delivery Agreement with RAW. Basically, an agreement as to what Altaf Hussain and his team will deliver for the RAW. There are communication exchanges, including emails. This evidence was found by Scotland Yard during the murder investigation of Dr Imran Farooq and the money-laundering investigation.”

The former top diplomat made startling revelation that the then interior minister of Pakistan under Pakistan People’s Party government Rehamn Malik was briefed by the British government that Altaf Hussain had links with RAW”.

Shaharyar Khan Niazi told Geo News: “Rehman Malik was briefed officially by the British government about Altaf's links to RAW a couple of times".

Shahryar Khan Niazi also said that "there was credible information to suggest that the Interior Minister (Rehman Malik) met Altaf Hussain and told him that he had spoken to the British Home Secretary (Theresa May) and that on his (Malik’s) intervention all the police investigations in relation to the MQM leader would be terminated and all charges would be dropped against Altaf Hussain.

The former deputy head of mission said that the British government confronted Rehamn Malik on this issue, based on information. “The interior minister was confronted by the UK government and asked not to make false statements or claims.”

Riaz Haq said...

#India's #RAW runs special cell to sabotage #CPEC, says #Pakistan Def Secretary. #Afghan NDS #RAW's partner. #China

http://www.dawn.com/news/1251860

Indian intelligence agency RAW has established a special cell at its Head Quarters in New Delhi to sabotage China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project and the plan is executed via Afghanistan, said Secretary Defence Gen (retd) Alam Khattak on Wednesday.

“RAW and Afghan NDS have launched joint secret operations against Pakistan by using three Indian consulates in Jalalabad, Kandahar and Mazar e Sharif,” said secretary defence.

“The three consulates in Afghanistan are providing weapons, money, training and other logistical support to agents for subversive activities in FATA, Balochistan and Karachi,” added Khattak.

Read: RAW involved in destabilising Pakistan, says General Raheel

Secretary defence, flanked by senior defence officials, was briefing Senate defence committee which met at Parliament House earlier today.

RAW has also set-up a cell at NDS HQ in Kabul for coordinating anti-Pakistan activities, said Khattak.

Referring to the recent arrest of Kulbushan Jadhav, a deep cover RAW operative arrested from Balochistan, the secretary defence elaborated that his entire network has been dismantled by Pakistani security agencies.

Khattak, also shed light on Coalition Support Fund (CSF) and its disbursement since 9/11. He explained to the committee that 40 per cent of the amount received was allocated to civil government while 60pc was given to the armed forces.

Pakistan received $13 billion under CSF since 9/11, and another $200 million is due to be given by the United States.

"CSF is going to be closed on September 30, 2016", said Khattak

Earlier, Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, speaking at the Peace and Prosperity seminar in Balochistan, said Indian intelligence agency RAW is actively involved in destabilising Pakistan.

“Hostile intelligence agencies are averse to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC),” said the chief of army staff.

Jadhav's arrest
Law enforcement agencies announced the arrest of Jadhav during an intelligence-based raid in Balochistan's Chaman last week.

The Indian Foreign Ministry earlier confirmed the arrested man was a former Indian Navy officer, but the Pakistani government claimed to have recovered travel documents and multiple fake identities of Jadhav, establishing him as an Indian spy who entered into Balochistan through Iran — holding a valid Iranian visa.

Jadhav was shifted to Islamabad for interrogation, during which an unnamed official said the spy revealed that he had purchased boats at the Iranian port in Chabahar in order to target Karachi and Gwadar ports in a terrorist plot. The official had said the 'RAW agent' is believed to be expert at Naval fighting techniques.

Also read: Jadhav's phone calls to family in Marathi gave him away: report

After Jadhav's arrest, Pakistan summoned Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale to lodge a strong protest over 'India's spying activities' in Balochistan and Karachi.

Following revelations by the Indian spy, security was tightened across Balochistan, especially at the shared borders with Iran and Afghanistan.

Riaz Haq said...

#Iran's Rouhani lauds #India role in #Chabahar plan http://presstv.com//Detail/2016/04/17/461274/Rouhani-lauds-India-role-in-Chabahar-plan …

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that the development of the country’s southeastern port of Chabahar will help connect India with Central Asia and will mark a new chapter in relations between Tehran and New Delhi.

Rouhani, in a meeting with the visiting Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, emphasized that the expansion of relations with India in various areas will benefit the whole region.

He said Iran and India have significant commonalities that they can exploit to develop their capabilities in various areas.

Rouhani further said that the economies of Iran and India complement each other, adding that Iran can satisfy India’s energy needs and thus help the Indian expanding economy.

The Indian foreign minister for her part said New Delhi wants to promote relations with Iran in all areas.

Swaraj said the strong bonds between Iran and India can help the enhancement of their political and economic relations.

She emphasized that New Delhi is determined to cement a mutually-beneficial relationship with Tehran. For that to happen, the Indian minister said, relations between the two countries should be defined beyond merely trade ties.

Elsewhere in her remarks, Swaraj said that there is a wide variety of areas in which India can invest in Iran, adding that the development of Chabahar port is only one of them.

She said the project – once fully developed – can benefit not only Iran and India but also the whole region.

Chabahar is located in the Gulf of Oman on the border with Pakistan. It is the closest and best access point of Iran to the Indian Ocean and Iran has devised serious plans to turn it into a transit hub for immediate access to markets in the northern part of the Indian Ocean and Central Asia.

In May 2014, India and Iran signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly develop the port once the international sanctions against Iran were lifted. Both sides agreed as per the MoU to allow India lease two docks at the port for a period of 10 years, a move that was meant to cut India's crude oil and urea transportation costs by around 30 percent.

India is also relying on the prospects of establishing rail links from Chabahar to Afghanistan and thereon to Central Asia.

Riaz Haq said...

#India's Answer To #China-#Pakistan #CPEC & #Gwadar Is #Chabahar Port In #Iran. India-Iran agree to fast-track it
http://www.ndtv.com/cheat-sheet/chabahar-port-in-iran-indias-key-to-central-asia-on-fast-track-10-developments-1396599

NEW DELHI: India and Iran agreed to fast-track the Chabahar port project that will open up access to central Asia, as Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj held talks during her first visit to the country on Sunday.
Here are 10 developments in the story:
The two countries decided in 2003 to develop Chabahar on the Gulf of Oman, near Iran's border with Pakistan.
The port in southeast Iran will allow India to bypass Pakistan to transport goods to Afghanistan and central Asia using a sea-land route.
Pakistan does not allow India to send goods through its territory to Afghanistan and has only recently begun to allow a trickle of Afghan exports to cross through to India.
The Chabahar project moved slowly because of the sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme, which have now been removed.
The two countries maintained a close relationship despite the US-led trade restrictions that halved their oil trade to 220,000 barrels per day in 2014.
India wants to develop the port as a counter to Pakistan's Gwadar port, which was built with Chinese assistance and is 72 km from Chabahar.
In February, the government cleared a 150 million dollar line of credit and the formation of a company in Iran to handle the project.
Sushma Swaraj, on a four-day tour of Iran and Russia, yesterday met Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and said in a statement that he had spoken of Chabahar as a defining partnership which has the potential of connecting the entire region.
Chabahar is the first foreign port that India is directly involved in developing; it has the capacity to handle 2.5 million tonnes a year.
Chabahar is officially designated as a Free Trade and Industrial Zone by Iranian government. Due to its free trade zone status, the city has increased in significance in international trade.

Riaz Haq said...

#Balochistan separatist Naela Qadir in #Canada: #India is our friend,no problem being called #RAW agents" #Pakistan
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/india-lacks-the-political-will-to-take-an-initiative-in-balochistan/

Baloch separatist Naela Qadir Baloch, now living in exile in Canada, is touring India for the past several days to talk about Balochstan

"Every other day the construction activities of this corridor (CPEC) come under attack from our boys. The roads which are being built are destroyed and recently a radar station was destroyed due to which the visit of Chinese Prime Minister to Gwadar was cancelled casuing much embarrassment to Pakistan government. China is looting the resources of our province including the gold reserves and turning a blind eye to the genocide of the Baloch"

Riaz Haq said...

#Afghan intelligence officer arrested by #Pakistan in #Chaman, #Balochistan for crossing border illegally. #India

http://www.dawn.com/news/1255022

An officer of the Afghan intelligence agency was arrested inside Pakistani territory near Chaman border crossing in Balochistan on Thursday, the interior ministry said.

The ministry said the Afghan officer named Rozi Khan — reportedly a second lieutenant in the intelligence unit of the Afghan army — was arrested by Fedral Intelligence Agency (FIA) officials in Chaman over charges of crossing the border without possessing any authentic travel documents to enter into Pakistan.

The Afghan official was handed over to intelligence agencies by FIA which then shifted him to an undisclosed location for questioning, DawnNews reported.

It further reported that the intelligence agencies are currently interrogating the arrested Afghan officer.

Earlier this month, an agent working for the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) – Afghanistan's premier spy agency – was also arrested from Chaman district by Frontier Corps.

The arrest of suspected Afghan intelligence officials comes after forces arrested an Indian agent Kulbushan Jadhav from Balochistan, who Pakistan said was involved in "terror activities" in the province.

Law enforcement agencies announced the arrest of Jadhav during an intelligence-based raid in Balochistan's Chaman last month.

The Indian Foreign Ministry earlier confirmed the arrested man was a former Indian Navy officer, but the Pakistani government claimed to have recovered travel documents and multiple fake identities of Jadhav, establishing him as an Indian spy who entered into Balochistan through Iran — holding a valid Iranian visa.

Riaz Haq said...

#India's #Modi visits #Iran to woo #Teheran. New era in bilateral ties - or a missed opportunity? #Chabahar #Gwadar http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36329915

With the security situation in Afghanistan deteriorating, India is also looking to find various ways to maintain its foothold in the war-torn nation to counter Pakistani influence. With the land route to Afghanistan through Pakistan unavailable, it's looking at Iran to trade with Afghanistan.
India is investing more than $150m to develop Chabahar port in south-eastern Iran. It hopes the port will give a transit route to Afghanistan.
In the future, it also wants to bring gas from Central Asia and then transport it to India. The project will also give sea access to Afghanistan.
-----

"From India's perspective, Chabahar port is a gateway to Afghanistan. From Chabahar there is a road which goes all the way to Afghanistan and it will link up with a road which India has already built inside Afghanistan. In a way, India is ensuring that there could be no exit strategy from Afghanistan," says Mr Roy-Chaudhury.
Mr Modi plans to visit Kabul in June and he is expected to sign a trilateral trade agreement with Iran and Afghanistan for Chabahar port.

During his meeting with the Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, Mr Modi would want to assure that India is keen to establish deeper and long-standing ties.
But Iranians may be a bit wary given their past experience.
------
India is home to the world's second highest Shia population, next only to Iran. Iran's influence over an estimated 45 million Shias in India is regarded as significant. With Iran emerging after international sanctions, it offers great investment opportunities to Indian companies.
But the bilateral ties suffered setbacks following international sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear programme. As successive Indian governments moved closer to the US, their Iran policy took a back seat, much to the displeasure of the Iranians.
Iranians were dismayed when India voted against their country at a vote in the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2009. Then India significantly reduced oil imports from Tehran following US pressure.
"That was a bitter lesson for the Iranians. They understood that India would not take Iran's side on any dispute and India would not sacrifice its relations with the US and the West for Iran," says Fatemeh Aman, an Iran-South Asia affairs analyst based in the US.
During his first two years at office, Mr Modi focused more on India's immediate neighbourhood and Indian Ocean rim countries. Relations with the United States and the west were given a priority.

----

When the international sanctions were in place, India could not pay for the oil it had imported from Iran. It still owes $6.5bn in unpaid dues and Delhi is still finding a way to facilitate the payment.
Western banks are still reluctant to do business with Iran when some of the US sanctions are still in place.
India is aware that China is making inroads into Iran to rebuild the economy devastated by the sanctions. The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, visited Iran in January this year to firm up business ties. Beijing is already Iran's largest trading partner.

Riaz Haq said...

Ex-Pakistan #Taliban Spokesman Ehsanullah Says #India, #Afghanistan Targeting #Pakistan via #terrorist proxies #TTP

https://www.voanews.com/a/ex-pakistan-taliban-spokesman-claims-india-afghanistan-target-pakistan/3826095.html

A central leader and ex-spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, Ehsanullah Ehsan, has alleged Afghan security forces and their intelligence agency, NDS, together with the Indian spy agency are supporting cross-border terrorist attacks against Pakistan.

The militant leader in a video confessional statement released by the Pakistan Army, said he was also participating in anti-state activities from sanctuaries on the Afghan side of the border and surrendered himself "voluntarily" to Pakistan army.

There was no immediate reaction from the Afghan government and Indian officials to the allegation leveled by Ehsan against them, though both Kabul and New Delhi have previously denied Islamabad's allegations of funding terrorist attacks on Pakistani soil.

When Pakistani security forces unleashed counter-militancy operations in the border region of North Waziristan (in June, 2014), Ehsan said militants fled to neighboring Afghanistan where they established contacts with the Afghan intelligence agency, NDS (National Directorate of Security), and through them with operatives of the Indian spy agency, RAW (Research and Analysis Wing).

“They supported them (Pakistani Taliban), funded them, and even assigned possible targets [for attacks in Pakistan],” Eshan asserted, adding that anti-Pakistan militants have established their “special committees” in Afghanistan for maintaining contacts with the NDS.

He went on to allege that the Afghan spy agency also issued national identification cards, called ‘tazkira,’ to members of the Pakistani Taliban to facilitate their infiltration into Pakistan to undertake subversive activities in the country.

A Pakistan military spokesman announced last week that Ehsan surrendered himself to security forces but would not say where and how they got hold of the militant leader.

Pakistani officials have described his arrest/surrender as a major success in counter terrorism operations and hope information gleaned from Ehsan will help further degrade Pakistani Taliban's activities in the country.

Before surrendering to authorities, Ehsan was mainly acting as spokesman for the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar faction of the Pakistan Taliban.

He claimed responsibility on behalf of his group for a number of deadly attacks in Pakistan, including an Easter suicide bombing of a crowded park in Lahore that killed killed at least 70 people, including Christians and Muslims.

It was not clear from the video whether Ehsan was speaking under duress.

The United States last year designated Jamaat-ul-Ahrar as a terrorist group for claiming responsibility for attacking a U.S. diplomatic mission in northwestern Pakistan.

#TTP's Ehsanullah Says #India & #Afghanistan Sponsor #Terrorism in #Pakistan https://youtu.be/pl69fVbGC1w via @YouTube

Riaz Haq said...

#India's Agent #KulbhushanJadhav Confession, Mercy Appeal Video. #Balochistan #Terrorism #Pakistan https://youtu.be/nVp62OinTeU via @YouTube


Jadhav: "...while crossing over into Pakistan I travelled all the way from Chahbahar in a private Taxi along with Rakesh to the Iranian-Pakistan border near Sarawan. From wherein I crossed into Pakistan along with Baloch Sub Nationals and after about an hour or so I was apprehended by the Pakistani authorities in Pakistan...........Research and Analysis Wing through Mr Anil Kumar has been abetting and financing and sponsoring a lot of activities within Balochistan and Sindh. The entire Hundi and Hawala operations are undertaken from Delhi and Mumbai via Dubai into Pakistan and during one such important transaction was the 40,000 dollars which was transferred to Baloch sub Nationals via Dubai. Also the finances which are coming into Balochistan and Sindh for various anti-national activities are coming through consulates in Jalalabad and Kandhar and the Consulate in Zahidan.

These are very important consulates which are used by Research and Analysis Wing to transfer dollars into the Balochistan movement.

And one such instance was where I was directly involved and I was observing the transaction was when 40,000 Dollars were recently transferred from India via Dubai to one such Baloch National operative within Pakistan.

Research and Analysis Wing and Mr Anil Kumar on behalf of RAW had been sponsoring regularly the various terrorist activities within Pakistan. Especially Hazara Muslims, Shia Muslims who move around on pilgrimage between Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan were basically to be targeted and killed. They were already being done, it was being done but the level had to be raised to the very high level so that the movement completely stops.

Then the targets on various workers of FWO who were conducting construction of various roads within Balochistan and the third major activity was the IED attacks which were being carried out by the Baloch sub nationals within Quetta, Turbat or various other cities of Balochistan.They were being directly sponsored by RAW.

Mr Anil Kumar has been sponsoring sectarian violence across Sindh and Balochistan and also sponsoring various assassinations across this same region so that instability or some kind of fear is set into the mindsets of the people of Pakistan, and in one such process SSP Chaudhary was assassinated. This was a direct mention by Mr Anil Kumar to me.

The various financing which subsequently happened for the TTP and various other Afghan anti Pakistani terrorist groups led to the attack by TTP on one of the Mehran Naval Bases in which a lot of damage was cost to the Pakistani Navy. Other sort of radar installation attack, the Sui pipeline gas attack, then attacks on civilian bus Stations where some I suppose Pakistani Nationals were being targeted by Sub Nationals and murdered and massacred so that a sort of disruption in the CPEC is done that was being funded and directly supported by Mr Anil Kumar. He wanted it to be raised to the next level so that complete disruption and complete stoppage of the Economic corridor between Gwadar and China is achieved.

One of the operations which was being planned by RAW officials along with Baloch insurgents was a military style attack on Zahidan Pakistani consulate. The aim was to either attack it with a grenade or some kind of RPG or IED attack or then try to harm the consulate General or some kind of vicious attack on the Pakistani consulate in Zahidan. It was being militarily planned, the RAW officials were involved in Iran and the Baloch Sub Nationals who were supposed to carry out the attack or facilitate the entire process were being involved and I was well aware of the plan which was being conducted and how it was being planned.

Riaz Haq said...

The mysterious Mr Jadhav
The case of the Indian sentenced in Pakistan offers more questions than answers

http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/the-mysterious-kulbhushan-jadhav-death-sentence-by-pakistan-double-passport-hussein-mubarak-patel-spy-4621558/

First, why does Jadhav have two passports, one in his own name and another in the name of Hussein Mubarak Patel? According to The Indian Express, the second passport was originally issued in 2003 and renewed in 2014. The passport numbers are E6934766 and L9630722. When asked, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson would only say that India needs access to Jadhav before he could answer. But why not check the records attached to the passport numbers? Surely they would tell a story?
Additionally, The Times of India claims that since 2007, Jadhav has rented a Bombay flat owned by his mother, Avanti, in the name of Hussein Mubarak Patel. Why would he use an alias to rent his own mother’s flat?
Perhaps Jadhav changed his name after converting to Islam? But then, why did he deliberately retain a valid passport in his old name? Indeed, why did the government let him, unless he deceived them?
Second, the government claims Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran and forcibly brought to Balochistan. A former German ambassador to Pakistan, Gunter Mulack, at least initially suggested this was true — but has the government pursued the matter with Mulack?
If it has, that hasn’t been reported, nor has what he revealed.
However, we did pursue the matter with Iran, but, as the MEA spokesperson admitted, they don’t seem to have responded or, perhaps, even conducted an investigation yet. We seem to have accepted that.
Odd, wouldn’t you say?
If Pakistan did abduct Jadhav, don’t we need to ask why? Doesn’t that raise the question of what was so special about him that made them do this? After all, there are 4,000 Indians in Iran — and no one else has been abducted.
Third, both The Indian Express and Asian Age suggest that Jadhav has links with the Pakistani drug baron Uzair Baloch. Did he play dirty with him and get caught in a revenge trap set by the drug mafia? Given that Jadhav was arrested a month after Baloch, this could be part of the explanation.
Finally, The Indian Express has reported that between 2010 and 2012, Jadhav made three separate attempts to join the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW). The paper suggests he also tried to join the Technical Services Division. What more do we know about this? Even if the media doesn’t, surely the government does? A. S. Dulat, a distinguished former chief of R&AW, has unhesitatingly said Jadhav could be a spy. As he put it, if he was the government, he would hardly admit it.
Just a few days before Jadhav’s sudden conviction and death sentence, the Pakistani media claimed a retired Pakistani army officer, Lt. Col. Muhammad Habib Zahir, had gone missing in Lumbini, close to the Indian border. The Pakistani media is convinced he’s been trapped by R&AW. Was Jadhav convicted and sentenced to preempt India from claiming it had caught a Pakistani spy? And now, is an exchange of ‘spies’ possible?
I’m not sure who will answer these questions, and perhaps it would not be proper for the government to do so, but whilst they hang in the air, the mystery surrounding Jadhav will only grow.

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.


---------

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.

Riaz Haq said...

#Balochistan Separatist Leader Jumma Marri Says in #Moscow He Now Supports #Pakistan and Blames #India for Hijacking Struggle: #CPEC #China #Russia #Afghanistan https://sputniknews.com/interviews/201802231061939477-balochistan-korybko-jumma-marri-baloch/ … via @SputnikInt

Dr. Jumma Marri Baloch, a prominent leader of the Baloch independence movement and designer of the separatist flag, recently renounced his decades-long campaign against Pakistan while attending a Pakistani Unity Day event last weekend in Moscow, where Sputnik’s Andrew Korybko had the chance to conduct a brief interview with him.

Sputnik: Tell us little about yourself: how and why did you come to Russia, how long have you been here and what do you do presently?

Jumma Marri Baloch: I think everybody who was interested about the Baloch affairs might know my struggle to free Balochistan, which is not hidden from anyone. I will not be wrong if I say that I am from those people who were always on the forefront of the Baloch freedom struggle — many of the readers might know the fact that the Free Balochistan flag, which is currently very popular and is in use, was designed by me.
----
For the sake of Free Balochistan I left my home, Pakistan, province, tribe and even my father and brothers. In 1979, due to the Balochistan movement I, along with my family, left for Afghanistan and settled there. Since 2000 I am in self-exile in Moscow.

--


Sputnik: Who is behind the so-called "Free Balochistan" Campaign, what are they aiming for, and how do they operate?


Jumma Marri Baloch: There are no doubts that India is squarely behind the unrest in Balochistan. I am a witness to it from within: India tries to counter Pakistan's support for Kashmir and India wants to pay Pakistan in the same coin by supporting a few so-called Baloch leaders who are enjoying very luxurious lifestyles in such expensive cities as Geneva and London. These people are sending some money to create unrest in Balochistan like blowing electricity supplies, mining bridges and putting mines in the roadside to keep the money supplies open from Delhi.

---

Sputnik: What is the reason why some international media have been repeating the claims of Baloch separatists and sometimes even lobbying on their behalf, and how does this relate to global fake news industry?


Jumma Marri Baloch: No international media pays any attention to these Baloch separatists except Indian media that are working closely with the Indian intelligence who are paid to cover their paid agents working as Baloch freedom fighters. These are all Indian attempts to silence the voices of the Kashmir struggle for freedom. I guarantee if Pakistan gives even the slightest hint to the Indians that they will stop supporting the Kashmiri, the Hindus will dump the Baloch next day down in a sewage canal.


Sputnik: What is the most effective way to debunk these falsehoods and show people the truth about Balochistan and its native people's relationship to the rest of Pakistan?


Jumma Marri Baloch: Develop the awareness of people about the negative propaganda, through education and empowering the local people to run their affairs without intervention. The Baloch must be respected, first of all, on their own soil, then such negative propaganda will have no effects. The majority of the Baloch people have no problem with Pakistan, but they have questions to the government as every normal citizen of any country around the world.

Riaz Haq said...

Clear evidence of India carrying out terrorist activities in Pakistan: Rana Sanaullah



https://www.dawn.com/news/1726154


“Naveed was a labourer in the Middle East and was in jail because he could not pay his fine. A RAW agent approached him and told him that he would pay his fine, but then, Naveed would have to engage in terror activities against Pakistan,” Mehmood said in the press conference.

He added that as soon as Naveed was arrested, several terror activities were thwarted. “When we arrested Sami ul Haq, Naveed was unaware of his arrest. Sami ul Haq told us that he was about to meet Naveed on May 10. We were then able to apprehend Naveed as well.”

As the investigation continued, Mehmood said, more RAW agents were uncovered.

“We also found out that close to a million dollars of terror financing was done through India to spread terrorism in Pakistan through different channels,” he revealed, adding that all the arrested persons have been sentenced to death three times by the court.


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HOW AN INDIAN STATE-SPONSORED TERRORIST RING WORKS 🧵

On the 23rd of June, 2021, #India’s external intelligence agency #RAW conducted a #terrorist attack in the suburbs of Johar Town, Lahore, #Pakistan leading to the death of 3 civilians, and injuring 22 innocent citizens.

https://twitter.com/INTELPSF/status/1602631458698526722?s=20&t=fL8UKCnmKUNbyc0Q5vLhUA

The Intel Consortium
@INTELPSF
The VBIED (Vehicle-Bourne Improvised Explosives Device) has 200 kilograms of explosives and destroyed 7 residential houses and 12 vehicles.
The plan was hatched in New Delhi somewhere in 2020, and after approval from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was put into action.

The Intel Consortium
@INTELPSF
It was not the first time that India would be conducting a major terror attack inside Pakistan, and would not be the last.
R&AW, Indian intelligence, was given the task. They initially recruited one Bablu Srivastava, a criminal running an extortion and kidnapping-for-ransom ring


The Intel Consortium
@INTELPSF
out of Bareilly Jail in Uttar Pradesh under the patronage of RAW.
He became the mastermind behind this terrorist attack. Sanjay Kumar Tiwari, RAW operative in the UAE was the supervisor of this operation. He was aided by Aslam Khan (alias), also a RAW agent operating out



The Intel Consortium
@INTELPSF
of Nepal and Maldives. He was financed by two brothers, both working with RAW, namely Zaheem and Saheem Sheikh (both based in the UAE). They were also assisted by one Ali Budesh, who runs RAW’s gold-smuggling network in the Middle East.


The Intel Consortium
@INTELPSF
What follows is a chilling account of how India’s state machinery organised a ruthless terror operation against civilians, using underworld criminals as a nexus.

In mid-2020 Naveed Akhtar, a Pakistani national imprisoned in the UAE due to visa problems and non-payment of fines