Spy Agencies and Parliamentary Select Committee in Sri Lanka – Part Two

The DMI and other local intelligence agencies have not continued the ground works in last three years due to some reasons, whereas SIS shared the most accurate advanced intelligence on Easter Sunday Bombings

by Bentota Unnanse

Intelligence operations are never dull. These facilitate the opportunity to know the other side of our world. Most of the high ranking intelligence agencies around the globe were born out of strong state policies which were protected against compromise for personal gains. In most of the strong nations, political differences in local bodies were kept secondary to state policies by aiming to protect the dignity and core values of the particular nation.

Sri Lankan security personnel stand guard at entrance to the luxury Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo on April 21, 2019 following an explosion.

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Click Here to Read Part One of this Series: Spy Agencies and Parliamentary Select Committee in Sri Lanka – Part One

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However, any nation shall be haven for enemies if that nation weeded away the committed and intelligent operatives in the intelligence community by replacing with ambitious political stooges. They will not keep the people and the nation safe from enemies.

Intelligence is all about the evaluation and feedback. Though it has come under severe criticism in the latter part of the discourse, the basic intelligence cycle drives us to understand the basic formula of intelligence remittance. First, planning and direction; second, collection; third, processing and exploitation; fourth, analysis and production; fifth, dissemination and integration -these are the major interrelated categories of the intelligence cycle that generally apply to an intelligence mission.

Easter Sunday Bombings by Islamic extremists ideologically inspired by the self-proclaimed Islamic State is a case study to envisage this basic outline of the intelligence cycle, local intelligence agencies and their activities in Sri Lanka.

However, as highlighted in the first part of this series over and over again it has been proven that the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) appointed by the Speaker of the Parliament in Sri Lanka is not only incompetent to execute the objectives of committee but is also causing damages that will not be able to be undone in near future.

Meanwhile, fuelling the crisis the haughty behaviours of the three main segments of Sinhalese political power cycle in the country are attempting to win the minds of the people by deceiving them without completing their homework on the very issue that they are dealing with - national security.

Its seems neither Prime Minister Wickremesinghe led collation party nor Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa led join opposition segment or the President Maithripala Sirisena led micro-SLFP subunit are competitive and capable enough to identify the gravity of the threat imposed by the newly emerged enemy inspired by self-proclaimed Caliph Ibrahim known as Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, an elusive leader of the Islamic State. This is where teamwork and unity are essential. But, unfortunately, as usual, none of them are paying attention to working together. They would rather find their own piece of the cake to gain political advantages out of the carnage.

Nonetheless; the members of the Parliamentary Select Committee must prove to the public that they are competent with adequate knowledge to question any person not just because of the civil status that they have earned by being legislators of the house but also due to wisdom in the subject which is causing an impact on every life on this Island nation. There is nothing more than the politically motivated questions are being flagged by the committee members.

The inadequacy of the committee members yet again was proved when they questioned Ash-Sheikh Mufti M.I.M. Rizwe the Honorary President of the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama. None of the members was to open their mouth about the role of Fatwa committee of ACJU. None of the committee members had a question, Mufti Rizwe on his earlier opinion on those who are refusing to dress Niqāb and Burqa expressed that they were prostitutes. None of the committee members questioned Mufti Rizwe on his opinion about the promulgation of Sharia Law or child marriage.

Ash-Sheikh Mufti M.I.M. Rizwe is one of the most powerful Muslims of top 500 in the world. He has enough power to de-radicalize Muslims who are walking towards extremism. Did any of these legislators who are searching for the truth behind the Easter Sunday Attacks have the courage to question this powerful man about his suggestion about his plan to prevent such attacks in the future?

However, Easter Sunday Bombings is an eye-opener for the country which was locked-up in its island mentality for decades. With the attacks, the general public has started thinking about the enemies existing beyond the local boundaries. At the same time, it has opened an opportunity to have a bird’s eye view of the intelligence community in the country.

It is widely believed that prior intelligence warnings were received by the local intelligence agency from a foreign intelligence agency. Some newspapers and other media reports further cultivated the assumptions by stating that information received is from the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), India’s external intelligence agency.

As there is no official confirmation, the intelligence could be worked out to have reached the local agencies via three channels or sources. First, as the story goes, the intelligence may have shared by the foreign intelligence agency, which is closely spying on Sri Lanka such as R&AW, CIA and Pakistan’s ISI (Inter-Service Intelligence). Second, the intelligence could have been received from the rival groups within the Islamic community in the country. This could be understood in intelligence as WALK-IN – an unsolicited volunteer.

Third, the intelligence on possible attacks by the extremists could have come through the ground works of the intelligence officers of the local agencies. Local intelligence officers gathering information of this kind through informant, “a legitimate member of a target group providing intelligence to the surveillance team” Whatever it may be, there are no rights to disclose the sources unless and until required by the due process of the law. The PSC as a preliminary body does not have such rights to hear.

In this part, it is important to understand the HUMINT structure that follows to share or transmit the intelligence received by the local intelligence agency (SIS) over possible attacks by Islamic extremists. There are several techniques to gather intelligence. HUMINT is the main technique out of all. As the NATO defines - HUMINT is "a category of intelligence derived from information collected and provided by human sources." HUMINT is interpersonal communication used since the beginning of espionage.

In the chart prepared here, we have attempted to understand the web and vacuum of the local intelligence agencies existing in Sri Lanka. There are six major intelligence agencies to spy on defence affairs for Sri Lanka. First and the foremost agency is the Chief of National Intelligence. And, State Intelligence Service, Special Branch, Directorate of Military Intelligence, Navy Intelligence, and Air Force Intelligence are others. Apart from these main bodies newly established, small intelligence body run by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) is also playing a pivotal role.

(Chart 01: HUMINT structure that follows to share or transmit the intelligence received by the local intelligence agencies over possible attacks by Islamic extremists)

Established in 2006 by replacing the National Intelligence Bureau, the Chief of National Intelligence (CNI) is the competent authority for directing and overseeing the other intelligence agencies in the country. Moreover, CNI is a constitutional body that owns the legitimacy not only to coordinate with other local intelligence agencies but also to deal with foreign counterparts.

However, CNI has not confirmed whether the advanced intelligence on the Easter Sunday Bombings was received from its external sources. But it has confirmed that the intelligence on possible attacks was received from the local agency and shared with Inspector General of Police according to due processes.

The former head of the CNI confirmed before the PSC that he has shared classified “top-secret” information categorized as “eyes only”. The “eyes only” in intelligence goes for “documents that may be read but not discussed.” It is unclear why the CNI decided to categorize same classified “top secret” document as “eyes only”. In intelligence, there are a few ways to classify secret information. The document with secret information is classified based on its volubility as, Confidential, Secret, Top Secret, and (SCI) Special Compartmentalized Information. However, the document published in the public domain proved that the classification method used by CNI has further complicated the issue.

Meanwhile, it is important to notice why the CNI was limited its sharing with IGP whereas none of any other body coming under the purview of CNI, received the advanced intelligence on the alleged attacks. It is clear that the CNI has breached the fundamental responsibilities constitutionally vested upon the institute.

Secondly, the chart has demonstrated the role of the State Intelligence Agency (SIS). The SIS mainly managing by the officers attached to the Department of Police but accountable for the Ministry of Defence and the Chief of Armed Forces in the Country. The SIS has confirmed that the advanced intelligence on Easter Sunday Bombings was received and passed them accordingly.

Subsequently, the information received by the SIS was shared with the Chief of National Intelligence, Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, and Inspector General of Police. As most of the testimonies by the witnesses confirmed, the SIS has shared the advanced information not only once but several times, formally as well as informally.

The following intelligence information was disseminated through public domain by citing as it was received by the CNIfrom SIS and shared with the Inspector General of Police more than ten days prior to the attacks.

[“01. As per an input; Sri Lanka based ZaharanHashim of National ThawheedJamaat and his associates are planning to carry out a suicide attack in Sri Lanka shortly. They are planning to target some important churches. It is further learnt that they have conducted reconnaissance of the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka and it is one of the targets for the planned attack”.

“02. The input indicates that the terrorists may adopt any of the following modes of attack;

a) Suicide attack

b) Weapon attack

c) Knife attack

d) Truck attack

“03. It is also learnt that the following are the likely team members of the planned suicide terror attack

1. ZaharanHashim

2. Jal Al Quithal

3. Rilwan

4. SajidMoulavi

5. Shahid

6. Milhan and others

“04. The input may kindly be enquired into on priority and a feedback given to us”]

The IGP has shared the information with most of the security division but the letter was not copied to the President’s Security Division which remained a mystery. Moreover, in its hearing the PSC too evaded the question on why; the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) PremalalDassanayaka has omitted the President’s Security Division when sharing his warning letter.

Next - the chart shows the Special Branch, small but powerful intelligence unit come under the inspector general of police. Neither PSC nor any other competent authority questioned about the role of this unit when the ex-IGP PujithJayasundara constructing an argument in favour of him. Did this unit receive any information on the attack? If this unit did not receive any information, does it mean this agency like many others in the country dismantled itself?

Next, the chart is showing the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), the largest intelligence body in the country. Since 2015, significant changes were reported in the DMI over replacing the officer-in-charge. The DMI was collecting/gathering, assessing and evaluating information on Islamic extremist movements since the early 90s. It has boosted its operations after the vanquishing of the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) as it identified the emerging new threats.

In his briefing to President Sirisena, the head of the DMI a few days after the Easter Sunday carnage described the evolution and progress of the Islamic organization using the slightly amended PowerPoint which was prepared four years ago. The DMI has not continued the ground works in last three years due to some reasons. It seems that the DMI’s capacity has been sunk and it is suffering from the inadequacy of intelligence gathering expertise.

[One of the interesting slides presented during the briefing to President Sirisena has visualized the family of the AbūShurayh as-Sīlānī, who was killed in Syria]

However, the presentation delivered to the President visualized the basic structure of the Muslim community and it has been quite correctly tried to explain the behaviours of the different sects within the community and the origins of spreading the Islamic State ideology. The presentation gave priority to the first Sri Lankan family that joined ISIS in Syria. One of the interesting slides presented during the briefing to President Sirisena has visualized the family of the AbūShurayh as-Sīlānī, who was killed in Syria;

However, it is surprising that the DMI did not receive any information on the ISIS from its counterparts though it has been spying on the Islamic extremist activities since the radical-Islamic thoughts started dispersing into the local community in the country. DMI was the first local intelligence agency that hunted almost all details about the formal ISIS activities of those of Sri Lankan origin, since 2015. Then why did the DMI not receive any prior notice on Easter Sunday Attacks?

Furthermore, small intelligence unit operated by Navy, Air Force and Chief of Defence Staff too did not receive any hints over the Easter Sunday Attacks. Therefore none of these parties has officially shared any intelligence with regards to the possible attacks by the Islamic terrorists, with any authorities.

Question marks and correction marks in the chart are clearly leaving us room to understand not only the structure but also there isonly one local intelligence agency acted with utmost responsibilities while others were imitating the role of Rip Van Winkle in a short story by Washington Irving.

This chart is an abstract structure of what really happened before the Easter Sunday Bombings. This will help us to read missing links of the intelligence activities and responsibilities vested upon other officials to ensure national security in the country. This will help us to avoid the unnecessary blaming and shaming game. This will help us to re-think, re-design and re-engineer where we have to change the country to move forward. This will help any genuine policymaker who thinks about the country and its people more than anything else to protect and drive committed men and women in the field to continue their service. This will help all of us to surpass caged thoughts that are preventing us from merging with the big picture of the senesce.

As General William Joseph Donovan, the precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency said, "In a global and totalitarian war, intelligence must be global and totalitarian." Sri Lanka, the strategic geopolitical territory in this part of the world is facing the new global reality and it is time to tame the political thoughts that undermine, attenuate, and enfeeble national interests.

To be continued

The Next Part: Rise and rise of Islamic Extremists in Sri Lanka and requirements of Intelligence Reform

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The messy world of espionage

Spying does not have laws, but it may have rules which are fluid and bend according to the circumstances of politics and technology

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by Shashank Joshi

( March 18, 2018, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Does spying have international rules? On the face of it, the question is absurd. How can one regulate an activity that is defined by law-breaking and subterfuge, and whose existence must accordingly be disclaimed? And yet, espionage is not wholly disordered.

Silent understandings emerge between rival agencies, indicating what lies beyond the pale. Where spying is parasitic on the architecture of diplomacy, with intelligence officers masquerading as diplomats, this affords another layer of civility. And not all negotiation is tacit. Russia’s KGB (Committee for State Security) and America’s CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) communicated through the Gavrilov channel, named after an 18th century poet. In later years, Americans used it to acknowledge, obliquely, when a vanished Soviet spy had defected, while the KGB disclosed where it had hidden microphones in the new US embassy. Spying does not have laws, but it may have rules—or at least expectations and norms. These are fluid, because secrecy precludes enforcement. The rules bend according to the circumstances of politics and technology. And today they are bending more than ever.

The first example comes from the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the UK last week. For Russia to hunt down former officials is hardly unusual; the theatrical murder of KGB renegade Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006, using a radioactive substance, is one of many examples. But to target someone like Skripal, who was pardoned and released in an exchange of prisoners, is exceptional, perhaps unprecedented. While it is possible that Skripal did something to forfeit his protected status, it may simply be that President Vladimir Putin decided to send a message. But it comes at a cost, with a norm shattered and the credibility of future swaps in tatters.

The value of such espionage etiquette is best understood by observing what happens in its absence. The US and Russia have conducted dozens of spy swaps. India and Pakistan, though routinely exchanging civilian prisoners, have not. If Kulbhushan Jadhav were eventually swapped for the Pakistani military officer who vanished in Nepal, and is alleged to be in Indian hands, then this would be the first such exchange in public record. One reason for this may be that neither side has caught sufficient numbers of the other’s most valued agents—the market is not liquid. But it surely also reflects a dearth of trust. In his book The Kaoboys Of R&AW, B. Raman observed that India and Pakistan both treated foreign intelligence officers with customary restraint “except those of each other”. Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence employed electric shocks against detained R&AW (Research and Analysis Wing) officers, while India’s Intelligence Bureau (IB), he conceded, had a similarly “brutal manner”. Russia’s aggressive treatment of Americans in Moscow is not yet at this level, but gloves are being removed.

A second question is whether certain sorts of spying are more acceptable than others and, if so, whether this line is now blurring. When China pulled off a spectacular cyber-heist of data from the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in 2014, including 18 million copies of security clearance forms for federal employees, this was met not with anger, but awe. Michael Hayden, former CIA and National Security Agency director, remarked that if he had the opportunity to grab equivalent Chinese data, he “would not have thought twice”. This was “honourable espionage work”. However, Beijing’s efforts to steal valuable commercial secrets from private American companies were viewed as an affront to the unspoken rules.

To the uninitiated, this inconsistency is puzzling. In both cases, Chinese espionage involved breaking American laws and hurting American interests; why should one be praised, and the other damned? Clearly, America wants to make commercial espionage taboo because it has more technology to lose, whereas in political espionage, it gives as good as it gets. But why would China play by these rules? Norms will not survive if they leave one side at a disadvantage. Although China has now signed up to pacts ruling out commercial espionage, I am sceptical that these will hold in an era when private firms, rather than state laboratories, are becoming the locus for the most important strategic technologies.

Third, we may be witnessing a blurring of the defensive and offensive aspects of espionage. Spying is neutral; it can be for any purpose, from reassurance to revolution. But technology adds to the opportunities, and to the confusion. If an adversary has placed implants on your nuclear command and control networks, are they there to receive forewarning of an attack, or to enable sabotage of your deterrent? Offensive or defensive intentions can never be known fully. We now know that the Netherlands was able to warn the US of Russian efforts to intervene in the American elections because Dutch hackers were already inside Russia’s networks. Cyber-defence requires cyber-attack. On the other hand, when Russia began cultivating political operatives around Donald Trump, few would have anticipated that, far from ordinary political intelligence gathering, this was the groundwork for an audacious campaign to disrupt and tilt the election itself.

Technology also permits scale. The covert dissemination of information to sway foreign politics is not in itself new. As Paul McGarr has shown, the UK’s information research department, which worked to counter Soviet propaganda, secretly placed material in over 500 Indian newspapers in 1964 alone. But this looks like child’s play alongside Russia’s Internet Research Agency, whose industrial-scale operations on Facebook and Twitter wrenched open American social cleavages. We have only seen the beginning of these complex campaigns, which fuse human intelligence, cyber-espionage and political warfare.

Intelligence, as Carl von Clausewitz said of war, has its own grammar, but not its own logic. Countries do put artificial restrictions on their espionage by choice. They swap rather than kill foreign spies, limit operations against close allies, and treat some targets as more acceptable than others. Some of this is unilateral, some learnt after tit-for-tat spirals, and some worked out through dialogue. But controlling intelligence is not like arms control. It is messy and fluid. The rules and norms of intelligence are—perhaps always—being renegotiated, rewritten, and bent.

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Shashank Joshi is a senior research fellow of the Royal United Services Institute in London. He writes for LiveMint, India, where this piece first appeared 

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R&AW led to Rajapaksa’s Defeat !

Sri Lanka's growing proximity to China led to R&AW playing a pivotal role in helping the opposition oust President Mahinda Rajapaksa and putting up Sirisena as the joint opposition candidate.

( January 19, 2015, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) Reports from Sri Lanka suggest that the Colombo chief of R&AW had a role to play in the defeat of Mahinda Rajapaksa in the Sri Lanka 2015 presidential elections but New Delhi has denied the charge. India’s Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) Colombo station chief K. Ilango was transferred in the run-up to the presidential elections. It has been reported that Sri Lanka had him expelled, accusing him of helping the opposition oust the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa who ruled over the island nation for a decade.

Reports stated that the R&AW officer was expelled for helping gather support for joint opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisen. The Indian foreign ministry spokesman has denied the charges and stated there was no expulsion and that transfers were routine decisions. R&AW’s Colombo chief was recalled in December last year after India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s Colombo visit.

Last year Chinese warships docked in the Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT), where China has invested $500 million. Sri Lanka had not intimated India about the granting of permission by Sri Lanka to China. Rajapaksa snuggled up to China to keep India at bay. The growing intimacy between China and the erstwhile Sri Lanka regime was discomforting for India and detrimental for its security situation, which it saw as betrayal of trust.

Apart from that Sri Lanka let off Pakistan’s consular officer in Colombo Amir Zubair Siddiqui who had formed a module to strike South India. His name had cropped up in the investigation after the arrest of one Sakir Hussain in Chennai. However, despite India’s requests, Rajapaksa let Siddiqui off.

Last time India meddled in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs in 1987 it ended up burning it s fingers.

Sri Lanka under newly elected President Maithripala Sirisena is apparently good news for India as a shift in the island nation’s foreign policy is evident. The new president, has said he will visit New Delhi on his first foreign trip next month and has said India is the “first, main concern” of his foreign policy.

History

The Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), created in 1968, has assumed a significant status in the formulation of India's domestic and foreign policies, particularly the later. Working directly under the Prime Minister, it has over the years become and effective instrument of India's national power. In consonance with Kautilya's precepts, R&AW's espionage doctrine is based on the principle of waging a continuous series of battles of intrigues and secret wars.

RAW, ever since its creation, has always been a vital, though unobtrusive, actor in Indian policy-making apparatus. But it is the massive international dimensions of R&AW operations that merit a closer examination. To the credit of this organization, it has in very short span of time mastered the art of spy warfare. Credit must go to Indira Gandhi who in the late 1970s gave it a changed and much more dynamic role. To suit her much publicized Indira Doctrine, (actually India Doctrine) Mrs. Gandhi specifically asked R&AW to create a powerful organ within the organization which could undertake covert operations in neighboring countries. It is this capability that makes R&AW a more fearsome agency than its superior KGB, CIA, MI-6, BND and the Mossad.

Its internal role is confined only in monitoring events having bearing on the external threat. R&AW's boss works directly under the Prime Minister. An Additional Secretary to the Government of India, under the Director R&AW, is responsible for the Office of Special Operations (OSO), intelligence collected from different countries, internal security (under the Director General of Security), the electronic/technical section and general administration. The Additional Secretary as well as the Director General of Security is also under the Director of RAW. DG Security has two important sections: the Aviation Research Center (ARC) and the Special Services Bureau (SSB). The joint Director has specified desks with different regional divisions/areas (countries):

Area one. Pakistan: Area two, China and South East Asia: Area three, the Middle East and Africa: and Area four, other countries. Aviation Research Center (ARC) is responsible for interception, monitoring and jamming of target country's communication systems. It has the most sophisticated electronic equipment and also a substantial number of aircraft equipped with state-of- the art eavesdropping devices. ARC was strengthened in mid-1987 by the addition of three new aircraft, the Gulf Stream-3. These aircraft can reportedly fly at an altitude of 52,000 ft and has an operating range of 5000 kms. ARC also controls a number of radar stations located close to India's borders. Its aircraft also carry out oblique reconnaissance, along the border with Bangladesh, China, Nepal and Pakistan.

RAW having been given a virtual carte blanche to conduct destabilization operations in neighboring countries inimical to India to seriously undertook restructuring of its organization accordingly. R&AW was given a list of seven countries (Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Pakistan and Maldives) whom India considered its principal regional protagonists. It very soon systematically and brilliantly crafted covert operations in all these countries to coerce, destabilize and subvert them in consonance with the foreign policy objectives of the Indian Government.

R&AW" operations against the regional countries were conducted with great professional skill and expertise. Central to the operations was the establishment of a huge network inside the target countries. It used and targeted political dissent, ethnic divisions, economic backwardness and criminal elements within these states to foment subversion, terrorism and sabotage. Having thus created the conducive environments, R&AW stage-managed future events in these countries in such a way that military intervention appears a natural concomitant of the events. In most cases, R&AW's hand remained hidden, but more often that not target countries soon began unearthing those "hidden hand". A brief expose of R&AW's operations in neighboring countries would reveal the full expanse of its regional ambitions to suit India Doctrine ( Open Secrets. India's Intelligence Unveiled by M K Dhar. Manas Publications, New Delhi, 2005).

Bangladesh

Indian intelligence agencies were involved in erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh since early 1960s. Its operatives were in touch with Sheikh Mujib for quite some time. Sheikh Mujib went to Agartala in 1965. The famous Agartala case was unearthed in 1967. In fact, the main purpose of raising RAW in 1968 was to organise covert operations in Bangladesh. As early as in 1968, RAW was given a green signal to begin mobilising all its resources for the impending surgical intervention in erstwhile East Pakistan. When in July 1971 General Manekshaw told Prime Minister Indira Gandhi that the army would not be ready till December to intervene in Bangladesh, she quickly turned to RAW for help. RAW was ready. Its officers used Bengali refugees to set up Mukti Bahini. Using this outfit as a cover, Indian military sneaked deep into Bangladesh. The story of Mukti Bahini and RAW's role in its creation and training is now well-known. R&AW never concealed its Bangladesh operations.

Interested readers may have details in Asoka Raina's Inside R&AW: the story of India's secret service published by Vikas Publishing House of New Delhi.The creation of Bangladesh was masterminded by R&AW in complicity with KGB under the covert clauses of Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation (adopted as 25-year Indo-Bangladesh Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation in 1972).

R&AW retained a keen interest in Bangladesh even after its independence. Mr. Subramaniam Swamy, Janata Dal MP, a close associate of Morarji Desai said that Rameswar Nath Kao, former Chief of RAW, and Shankaran Nair upset about Sheikh Mujib's assassination chalked a plot to kill General Ziaur Rahman. However, when Morarji Desai came into power in 1977 he was indignant at RAW's role in Bangladesh and ordered operations in Bangladesh to be called off; but by then RAW had already gone too far. General Zia continued to be in power for quite some time but he was assassinated after Indira Gandhi returned to power, though she denied her involvement in his assassination( Weekly Sunday,Calcutta,18 September, 1988).

RAW was involved in training of Chakma tribals and Shanti Bahini who carry out subversive activities in Bangladesh. It has also unleashed a well-organized plan of psychological warfare, creation of polarisation among the armed forces, propaganda by false allegations of use of Bangladesh territory by ISI, creation of dissension's among the political parties and religious sects, control of media, denial of river waters, and propping up a host of disputes in order to keep Bangladesh under a constant political and socio-economic pressure ( " R&AW and Bangladesh" by Mohammad Zainal Abedin, November 1995, RAW In Bangladesh: Portrait of an Aggressive Intelligence, written and published by Abu Rushd, Dhaka).

Sikkim and Bhutan

Sikkim was the easiest and most docile prey for R&AW. Indira Gandhi annexed the Kingdom of Sikkim in mid-1970s, to be an integral part of India. The deposed King Chogyal Tenzig Wangehuck was closely followed by RAW's agents until his death in 1992.

Bhutan, like Nepal and Sikkim, is a land-locked country, totally dependent on India. RAW has developed links with members of the royal family as well as top bureaucrats to implements its policies. It has cultivated its agents amongst Nepalese settlers and is in a position to create difficulties for the Government of Bhutan. In fact, the King of Bhutan has been reduced to the position of merely acquiescing into New Delhi's decisions and go by its dictates in the international arena.

Sri Lanka

Post- independence Sri Lanka, inspire of having a multi-sectoral population was a peaceful country till 1971 and was following independent foreign policy. During 1971 Indo-Pakistan war despite of heavy pressure from India, Sri Lanka allowed Pakistan's civil and military aircraft and ships to stage through its air and sea ports with unhindered re-fueling facilities. It also had permitted Israel to establish a nominal presence of its intelligence training set up. It permitted the installation of high powered transmitter by Voice of America (VOA) on its territory, which was resented by India.

It was because of these 'irritants' in the Indo-Sri Lanka relations that Mrs Indira Gandhi planned to bring Sri Lanka into the fold of the so-called Indira Doctrine (India Doctrine) Kao was told by Gandhi to repeat their Bangladesh success. R&AW went looking for militants it could train to destabilize the regime. Camps were set up in Tamil Nadu and old RAW guerrillas trainers were dug out of retirement. R&AW began arming the Tamil Tigers and training them at centers such as Gunda and Gorakhpur. As a sequel to this ploy, Sri Lanka was forced into Indian power-web when Indo-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987 was singed and Indian Peace-Keeping-Force (IPKF) landed in Sri Lanka.

The Ministry of External Affairs was also upset at &AW's role in Sri Lanka as they felt that R&AW was still continuing negotiations with the Tamil Tiger leader Parabhakran in contravention to the Indian government's foreign policy. According to R Swaminathan, (former Special Secretary of R&AW) it was this outfit which was used as the intermediary between Rajib Gandhi and Tamil leader Parabhakaran. The former Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, J.N. Dixit even accused R&AW of having given Rs. five corore to the LTTE. At a later stage, R&AW built up the EPRLF and ENDLF to fight against the LTTE which turned the situation in Sri Lanka highly volatile and uncertain later on.

Maldives

Under a well-orchestrated RAW plan, on November 30 1988 a 300 to 400-strong well trained force of mercenaries, armed with automatic weapons, initially said to be of unknown origin, infiltrated in boats and stormed the capital of Maldives. They resorted to indiscriminate shooting and took high-level government officials as hostages. At the Presidential Palace, the small contingent of loyal national guards offered stiff resistance, which enabled President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom to shift to a safe place from where he issued urgent appeals for help from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Britain and the United States.

The Indian Prime Ministe Rajiv Gandhi reacted promptly and about 1600 combat troops belonging to 50 Independent Para-Brigade in conjunction with Indian Naval units landed at Male under the code-name Operation Cactus. A number of IAF transport aircraft, escorted by fighters, were used for landing personnel, heavy equipment and supplies. Within hours of landing, the Indian troops flushed out the attackers form the streets and hideouts. Some of them surrendered to Indian troops, and many were captured by Indian Naval units while trying to escape along with their hostages in a Maldivian ship, Progress Light. Most of the 30 hostages including Ahmed Majtaba, Maldives Minister of Transport, were released. The Indian Government announced the success of the Operation Cactus and complimented the armed forces for a good job done.

The Indian Defense Minister while addressing IAF personnel at Bangalore claimed that the country's prestige has gone high because of the peace-keeping role played by the Indian forces in Maldives. The International Community in general and the South Asian states in particular, however, viewed with suspicious the over-all concept and motives of the operation. The western media described it as a display of newly-acquired military muscle by India and its growing role as a regional police. Although the apparent identification of the two Maldivian nationals could be a sufficient reason, at its face value, to link it with the previous such attempts by the mercenaries, yet other converging factors, indicative of involvement of external hand, could hardly be ignored. Sailing of the mercenaries from Manar and Kankasanturai in Sri Lanka, which were in complete control of IPKF, and the timing and speed of the Indian intervention proved their involvement beyond any doubt.

Nepal

Ever since the partition of the sub-continent India has been openly meddling in Nepal's internal affairs by contriving internal strife and conflicts through R&AW to destabilize the successive legitimate governments and prop up puppet regimes which would be more amenable Indian machinations. Armed insurrections were sponsored and abetted by R&AW and later requests for military assistance to control these were managed through pro-India leaders. India has been aiding and inciting the Nepalese dissidents to collaborate with the Nepali Congress. For this they were supplied arms whenever the King or the Nepalese Government appeared to be drifting away from the Indian dictates and impinging on Indian hegemonic designs in the region. In fact, under the garb of the so-called democratization measures, the Maoists were actively encouraged to collect arms to resort to open rebellion against the legitimate Nepalese governments. The contrived rebellions provided India an opportunity to intervene militarily in Nepal, ostensibly to control the insurrections which were masterminded by the R&AW itself. It was an active replay of the Indian performance in Sri Lanka and Maldives a few years earlier. R&AW is particularly aiding the people of the Indian-origin and has been providing them with arms and ammunition. R&AW has also infiltrated the ethnic Nepali refugees who have been extradited by Bhutan and have taken refuge in the eastern Nepal. R&AW can exploit its links with these refugees in either that are against the Indian interest. Besides the Nepalese economy is totally controlled by the Indian money lenders, financiers and business mafia ( R&AW's Machination In South Asia by Shastra Dutta Pant, Kathmandu, 2003).

Afghanistan

Since December 1979, throughout Afghan War, KGB, KHAD (WAD) (former Afghan intelligence outfit) and R&AW stepped up their efforts to concentrate on influencing and covert exploitation of the tribes on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. There was intimate co-ordination between the three intelligence agencies not only in Afghanistan but in destabilization of Pakistan through subversion and sabotage plan related to Afghan refugees and mujahideen, the tribal belt and inside Pakistan. They jointly organized spotting and recruitment of hostile tribesmen and their training in guerrilla warfare, infiltration, subversion, sabotage and establishment of saboteur force/terrorist organizations in the pro-Afghan tribes of Pakistan in order to carry out bomb explosions in Afghan refugee camps in NWFP and Baluchistan to threaten and pressurize them to return to Afghanistan. They also carried out bomb blasts in populated areas deep inside Pakistan to create panic and hatred in the minds of locals against Afghan refugee mujahideen for pressurizing Pakistan to change its policies on Afghanistan.

Pakistan

Pakistan's size, strength and potential have always overawed the Indians. It, therefore, always considers her main opponent in her expansionist doctrine. India's animosity towards Pakistan is psychologically and ideologically deep-rooted and unassailable. India's war with Pakistan in 1965 over Kashmir and in 1971 which resulted in the dismemberment of Pakistan and creation of Bangladesh are just two examples.

Raw considers Sindh as Pakistan's soft under-belly. It has, therefore, made it the prime target for sabotage and subversion. R&AW has enrolled and extensive network of agents and anti-government elements, and is convinced that with a little push restless Sindh will revolt. Taking fullest advantage of the agitation in Sindh in 1983 and the ethnic riots, which have continued till today, RAW has deeply penetrated and cultivated dissidents and secessionists, thereby creating hard-liners unlikely to allow peace to return to Sindh. Raw is also involved similarly in Balochistan.

R&AW is also being blamed for confusing the ground situation is Kashmir so as to keep the world attention away from the gross human rights violations by India in India occupied Kashmir. ISI being almost 20 years older than R&AW and having acquired much higher standard of efficiency in its functioning , has become the prime target of R&AW's designs, ISI is considered to be a stumbling block in RAW's operations, and has, therefore, been made a target of all kinds of massive misinformation and propaganda campaign. The tirade against ISI continues unabated. The idea is to keep ISI on the defensive by fictionalising and alleging its hand is supporting Kashmiri Mujahideen and Sikhs in Punjab. R&AW's fixation against ISI has taken the shape of ISI-phobia, as in India everyone traces down the origin of all happenings and shortcomings to the ISI . Be it an abduction at Banglaore or a student's kidnapping at Cochin, be it a bank robbery at Calcutta or a financial scandal in Bombay, be it a bomb blast at Bombay or Bangladesh, they find an ISI hand in it ( RAW :GLOBAL AND REGIONAL AMBITIONS" Edited by Rashid Ahmad Khan and Muhammad Saleem, Published by Islamabad Policy Research Institute, Asia Printers, slamabad, 2005).

R&AW over the years has admirably fulfilled its tasks of destabilising target states through unbridled export of terrorism. The India Doctrine spelt out a difficult and onerous role for R&AW. It goes to its credit that it has accomplished its assigned objectives due to the endemic weakness in the state apparatus of those nations and failure of their leaders.

-Agencies, Isha Khan 

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The Greatest Game in Nepal

| by JP Naren

( November 21, 2014, Kathmandu, Sri Lanka Guardian) During the book launch program of ‘Prayogshala’ penned by Sudheer Sharma last year, politician Pradip Giri said, “Interests of all powerful nations in Nepal has increased; intelligence agencies of many countries have been collecting core information under the veil of something other but, officers of Indian intelligence announce themselves as the agents of Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).” To one’s surprise, the Kathmandu-based US Embassy is the second largest diplomatic mission in Asia after its office in Saudi Arabia.

It is also noteworthy that, for the first time in Nepal’s history, a cabinet meeting was held out of the capital city due to massive pressures caused by the anti-Chinese activities of Khampa uprising in the 70s. Henry Kissinger’s secret China trip on July 9, 1971 and the successful Mao-Nixon talks as well as the results of ‘Ping Pong Diplomacy’ helped reduce Khampa uprising in Nepal.As a president candidate, Richard Nixon argued that the US and rest of the world would benefit from engaging China. Similarly, Nixon considered China as the useful counterbalance against USSR during the time of souring relations between the US and USSR.

The Tibet-centered campaign of Khampa was launched in 1956–with training and support from CIA and R&AW–by making Nepal’s northern region a base came on September 15, 1974 after the demise of Gay Wangdi– a counterrevolutionary leader. At present too, anti-Chinese activities are undergoing in one or the other forms. A recent meeting of NC leader and lawmaker Gagan Thapa with Pasang Pasang Chungduk Lama– the most-wanted Tibetan refugee– and Thupten Lama, a representative of Radio Free Asia also symbolizes backing of political honchos for the anti-Chinese activities.

But, the frequent concerns of Chinese diplomats and officials about the anti-Chinese activities taking place in Nepal are something more serious.

On the other hand, massive smuggling of fake Indian currency and rising anti-Indian amplifications hint that Nepal’s land gradually becoming a site to run activities of the Muslim extremists and westerners by targeting the emerging world powers.

Indians and Chinese security experts have well understood such facts to further bolster their relations. By realizing the situation, at a program on ‘track to diplomacy’ organized by Nepal Institute of International and Strategic Studies on September 11, former Chinese deputy foreign minister Chang Wai Chao and former Indian ambassador KV Rajan, Former Director General of Indo-Tibet Border Force Gautam Kawal shared a same opinion to maintain stability, peace and prosperity in the region through Panchasheel (five-point principle) and environment of trust. I could assume that speakers at the program were worried about anti-Indian and anti-Chinese activities being carried out from Nepal due to Nepal’s political fluidity.

With the paradigm shift in world’s socio-political features, considering the sensitivities of India and China is a must for trilateral –Nepal, China and India—collaboration. The worldly ambition of the rulers of both India and China fuelled by the rapid growth in their economies has also increased the importance of Nepal’s geography—a buffer zone between the world’s most populous nations.

More than this, the Indian Prime Minister has a dream for ancient Jammu plateau that his Guru Madhav Sadashiva Golbalkar had shared with Nepal’s king Mahendra and then prime minister Tulsi Giri in 1963 during his visit in Shivaratri.

If so, what is the importance of Nepali land for India and China on the backdrop of such historical importance? Is it a bridge to maintain harmonious relations between two gigantic nations or a yam between two rocks? Or is it dynamite between two rocky mountains? But, we have different school of thoughts and deliberations on the very topic.

For the westerners, the English speaking elites in Kathmandu valley were/are key informants. Mount Everest, birthplace of Lord Buddha, Sherpa, British Gurkha soldiers and Kathmandu’s temples were described as synonymous to Nepal’s identity and the people residing only in hilly and mountainous regions or those migrating from there were known for bearing Nepali identity. But, this canon does exist no more; thanks to the decade-long People’s War albeit no powers in the world put its trust on Nepal’s liberation movement waged by the Maoist rebels. Instead, the powerful nations and the elites agreed on a one-point agenda to sabotage the Maoist movement; if not possible, to emasculate it at any expense fearing that a success story of the communist guerrillas would encourage the like-minded forces in other parts of the world. They supported the ‘so-called establishment power’ to destroy the Maoist movement under the pretext of assistance, social mobilization, poverty alleviation and media monitoring or even in the name of researches.

Since then, the westerners established their stations mainly for two reasons, (a) to rupture Nepal’s progressive movement waged against feudalism, poverty, injustice and discrimination; and (b) to run anti-Indian and anti-Chinese activities from Nepal.

This is no secret that the Britons made their access to Nepal’s security agencies through the Department for International Department (DFID) while many other INGOs prepared environment for the same schema through populist programs.

Surprisingly, supports of Norway—comparatively a soft-cornered nation—to different NGOs in Nepal to help germinate a status-quoist vibes should be construed as a psyche of the westerners.

The powerful nations have keen eyes on emerging economies—India and China and they know pretty well that Nepal’s soil could be a haven for them to watch the societal shift in India—the third Muslim inhabited nation in the world; from where they could express their rejection to the Muslims equal to what they did to Jews in the 20th century. Side by side, Nepal’s land is equally suitable for the westerners to watch Tibetan issues and the Uighur Muslims in China.

The major concern of India’s establishment faction in Nepal is to tap Nepal’s immense hydro potential for its interests, and ‘prevent’ the smuggling of counterfeit notes from Nepal’s soil.

India’s intelligence bureau not only acquires information and submits them to the government but also directly influences in the domestic politics of neighboring nations to bring the interest meeting persons and group in power. More than that, Jammu plateau ambition is a dream of Modi’s cultural nationalism.

Furthermore, the Chinese are more cautious to stop the anti-Chinese activities that have taken place in Nepal mostly in the name of Tibetans refugees. They want a strong commitment from Nepal’s establishment faction on a one-China policy and Nepal’s support to quash any of the anti-Chinese actions like that of Khampa carried out in 70s. China’s close eyes are towards the westerners’ activeness played in the sentiments of Tibetans and Buddhist monks.

The roles of NGOs operating in the border lines of northern and southern parts of Nepal are suspicious. Equally suspicious is the westerners’ investment in Nepali media in the name of ‘shaping people’s mind’.

The westerners including the USA want to keep the rising economic influence of China and India in a limited size. In the midst of the westerners’ ‘silent war’ that is targeted to two emerging economies from Nepal has brought the Himalayan nation’s politics in a shambles. The middle-class intellectuals and media fraternity are being used to prepare the psyche acuity for their hidden interests. INGOs and NGOs even the religious institutions are being used to administer such misdeeds.

Nepalis barely enjoyed religious freedom before 1990 and religious conversion was tantamount to a crime. But, many people have taken part in the religious conversion after the end of party-less Panchayat system as if it was a carnival.

After 2006, the christianization Hindu Dalits, Janajatis and other marginalized communities reached at its peak making a basis to the secularism. The number of Buddhist Gumba also increased in a large scale while Madrasa and mosques have been established in southern belt abundantly. The rapid pace of christianization and expansion of Gumba and mosques is not a matter of religiosity, but a cultural encroachment in Nepal. All such activities are engineered by the westerners not other than to weaken China and India.

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