NEW DELHI – In a first such revelation Indian authorities have admitted torun a secret and covert RAW spy program against Pakistan at least admittedfrom 2013.
Arrested Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav was part of such program unleashed byRAW.
FOR six hours, the hired car had driven through a forest of shadows, castby the mountains of Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan province—for generations, arefuge for smugglers, insurgents and spies.
Heading towards Saravan, a town of 50,000 some 20 kilometres from theborder with Pakistan, the car was carrying a businessman from Mumbai to ameeting.
The men he wanted to meet were waiting, but there were others, too: likeevery spy story, this one ended in betrayal.
India knows something of what happened next: Kulbhushan Jadhav is now ondeath row, awaiting execution, after a hurried trial by a military court inPakistan which found him guilty of espionage.
Early in January, Jadhav appeared on Pakistani television, insisting he wasstill “a commissioned officer of the Indian Navy”—a statement thatcontradicts the government of India’s statements and directly implicates itin his activities.
Precisely who Jadhav was and why he ended up where he did remain profoundlyopaque. Basic questions remain unanswered; official documents are sealed.
But interviews with over 10 diplomats and intelligence and naval officialsfrom three countries make it clear that the governments of both India andPakistan have been economical with the truth, The Front line has reported.
The implications of these questions go far beyond Jadhav’s fate, for behindthe case lies a secret war that may claim hundreds, even thousands, oflives.
Ever since 2013, India has secretly built up a covert action programmeagainst Pakistan, seeking to retaliate against jehadists and deter theirsponsors in the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate.
Led by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, and now by Research andAnalysis Wing’s (RAW) Anil Dhasmana, the programme has registeredunprecedented success, hitting hard against organisations such as theLashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Muhammad.
But the story of the man on death row illustrates that this secret war isnot risk-free. Lapses in tradecraft and judgment, inevitable parts of anyhuman enterprise, can inflict harm far greater than the good they seek tosecure.