Vantage | What Satendra Siwal spying case tells India about ISI's game

An Indian named Satendra Siwal, who is a 28-year-old security official, has been caught spying for Pakistan. Siwal was posted at the Indian mission in Moscow. He is said to have taken money from an Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) handler to steal confidential documents and leak them to Pakistan. Though shocking, it is hardly surprising. He is not the first Pakistani spy caught by India, and he won’t be the last. Since independence, both India and Pakistan have spied on each other. There’s only one rule in this game: don’t get caught. When you do, all bets are off. The ISI is a key intelligence agency in Pakistan. The ISI handlers use money and honeytraps for recruitment. Earlier, such operations were limited to India’s High Commission in Pakistan. But now, they’re being extended to Indian missions in friendly countries. All they have to do is spot a vulnerability. In this case, it was money. Satyendra Siwal hails from the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh; three years ago, he was posted to Moscow. The appointment was done by India’s Ministry of External Affairs. The ministry runs a bureau of security, which recruits security assistants. Usually, they come from the Indian Police Force—constables and head constables—and are chosen to serve at Indian missions abroad to look after the security of the mission. The tenure is usually three years for this deputation. Out of which, an officer must spend at least two years overseas. So in 2021, Satyendra Siwal was sent to Moscow on deputation as a security assistant. It’s not clear when the ISI turned to him. But recently, he came on the radar of Indian security agencies. They got intelligence that Satyendra Siwal was a spy. They suspected that he was passing sensitive information to an ISI handler. The information was linked to India’s defence and foreign ministries and also to India’s military establishment. The charge is that he sold India’s secrets to Pakistan and that he was in touch with a female ISI handler, who lured him with money. Apparently, Siwal spoke with his handler on the phone on a regular basis. According to one report, he had access to intel about the movement and development of Indian troops. Siwal’s only temptation was money. He had multiple exchanges with his handler. On the basis of this intelligence, he was put under electronic surveillance and then grilled by Indian officials. Reports say he has confessed to spying for Pakistan. So the formal charges will follow. What are the charges against Siwal? He has been arrested under the accusation of waging a war against the nation, as well as the Official Secrets Act. Investigators have recovered two mobile phones from him, and they are going through his bank account now to assess how much money he got from Pakistan.

Larger pattern Pakistan is ramping up its psychological operations. Last year alone, at least three cases came to light. One of them involved a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) official. DRDO does the R&D for the Indian military. Now this official, who was caught, was accused of passing information to Pakistani agents. ISI’s bid to trap Indian officials, and Pakistan has a long history of such operations. In 2017, India recalled three diplomats. They worked at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. Reports say they were targeted for a honey trap, but the bid was foiled. Then, in 2010, another Indian diplomat was arrested. She, too, worked at the Indian High Commission in the press division. The diplomat was accused of passing classified documents to the ISI. On every such occasion, India’s response has been swift; Siwal has been neutralised, but India needs to keep its guard up. When ISI is not busy rigging Pakistani elections, it is trying to damage India in every way possible. Sometimes using Indian citizens as weapons. Compare this to Pakistan’s approach. Islamabad makes shady claims of targeted killings and accuses New Delhi without proof. The latest one came last month, which said India had ordered targeted killings in Pakistan. Their foreign ministry was all over the story; they said that last year, two Pakistani citizens were killed, and Indian agents were behind these deaths. The identities of these two citizens were made public. Their names were Muhammad Riaz and Shahid Latif. Riaz died in Rawalakot in September last year, and Latif died in Sialkot in October of the same year. Both men were terrorists. Were they VIPs? Were they important in any way? Were both of them related? Pakistan won’t tell us. Islamabad says these two men were “assassinated.” But why would India order such an operation? Why even go after these men? What was the “motive”? Islamabad is unable to come up with an explanation. India had termed the allegation “propaganda.” It is because the biggest loophole in Pakistan’s story is the absence of a motive, but when it comes to Pakistani spies, the motive is quite apparent; the targets are carefully picked because, behind all spying operations, the objective is the same: getting access to India’s military secrets. Between Pakistan’s claims of Indian-led killing and the reality of ISI’s spy rings in India, whose claims sound more far-fetched now? Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost_’s views._ Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.