To counter ISI's ‘humanint’, India should step up surveillance

By Shantanu Mukharji There has been no let up in the subversive activities by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) on Indian soil. Around the time Prime Minister Narendra Modi was shaking hands with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of Paris summit on climate change, the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police busted an ISI spy ring which was actively engaged in garnering intelligence through a wide and robust network of spies targeting Indian military locations. One of the ISI agents was Abdul Rasheed, a BSF head constable, who was handled by one Kaifatullah Khan aka Master who belongs to Rajauri (Jammu and Kashmir).  What is important to note is that this head constable was posted in the intelligence branch of BSF. This exposes the vulnerability of the intelligence branch of such a vital paramilitary force — it guards our frontiers and the nature of the job makes its intelligence wing critical. That the ISI penetrated deep into the intelligence setup raises questions on the level of competence and capabilities of our counter intelligence mechanism. [caption id=“attachment_2488290” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] Were Rasheed’s bona fides checked when he was inducted to the sensitive intelligence unit? Were there random and period checks, albeit discreet and unobtrusive, carried out? These are fundamental for any intelligence outfit. Other targets of the ISI spy ring were Meerut and Bareilly — both very crucial military cantonments. Intelligence collected by the ISI of the formations and deployment are a gold mine for our hostile neighbour. Such activities show that ISI is systematically using its agents and ‘humanint’, a terminology used in intelligence tradecraft, as their forté despite the availability of advanced technology to gather intelligence. That Pakistan has succeeded in intelligence collection on the Indian soil has been largely possible because of ready availability of agents in and around military installations. The military wing’s counter-intelligence needs to tighten its measures to pre-empt further leakage of hard intelligence. Significantly, the Special Task Force (STF) of the Kolkata Police has arrested Irshad Ansari, his son Ashfaq and a relative Mohammad Jahangir for spying on Garden Reach Ship Builders and Engineers (GRSE) at ISI’s behest.  This is yet another cause for alarm. Those arrested so far in the syndicate had in their possession details of the Army and Air Force, including their order of battle (Orbat) and deployment. But to penetrate a ship-building installation shows just how concerted the ISI’s game plan is. All possible critical infrastructure is now on their scanner. Another alarming factor is the fact that all ISI agents active in India are trained. Proper training would mean there is some infrastructure and wherewithal on Indian soil. It is possible that the agents are sent to Pakistan or some third country for training. It is hoped the interrogators would be able to extract every minute detail about the ISI network and its nexus. This is expected to give a larger picture enabling our security agencies to bring to book all the players complicit in such anti- national activities. The government would also do well to nominate a single nodal agency under a senior and experienced officer to coordinate the interrogation to join the dots. Hitherto, we only know that the ring was looking for military sites. It’s very possible they will also scout locations like Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (Barc), and several other scientific installations and large manufacturing companies where sabotage would mean the crippling of our capabilities. Lastly, surveillance on Pakistani High Commission officials, who are active in undercover operations, needs to be intensified. It would be naive to imagine that a spy ring like this could have functioned without their moral and material support. All said and done, the Delhi Police deserves commendation for busting this spy racket before it could cause any further damage to our security interests. The writer is a retired IPS officer and has also been a member of the intelligence community. Views expressed are personal