Daily Describes Activities of ISI in India

Daily Describes Activities of ISI in India

(NSI News Source Info) Article by Wilson John: "ISI Fangs" - December 21, 2008: PAKISTAN'S INTER Services Intelligence (ISI) has done what its Army can never do.

It has captured the vitals of the nation, its tentacles are spread across every nook and cranny-from Gujarat to Assam, from Kashmir to Kerala. It can trigger blasts in remote places, fuel communal riots in peaceful cities and blow up railway stations anywhere it wishes to.

It can spread terror wherever, whenever. Its control is full and final. There is not a city in the country which doesn't have either an active or a sleeper agent of the ISI.

This agent can be your friendly next door neighbour or the local tailor or a businessman. They have been brainwashed or inculcated into the fold by the ISI either by financial allurement or in the name of religion.

Whatever might be the provocation, the ISI agents are motivated enough to carry out the orders of their masters in Islamabad. The ISI has taken more than 28 years to implement its plan of action.

After the 1971 bifurcation of erstwhile Pakistan into two nations, the ISI, which works under the overall control of the Pak Army, has been working with the sole objective of avenging the defeat and balkanise India. The plan was conceived by President Ziaul-Haq and was called Operation Topac.

The objectives of Operation Topac were; a) to disintegrate India; b) to utilise the spy network to act as an instrument of sabotage; c) to exploit porous borders with Nepal and Bangladesh to set up bases and conduct operations. A close look at the ISI structure as it exists in Pakistan will reveal the extent of Islamabad's nefarious designs.

The ISI is headquartered in Islamabad and works under a Director General, a serving Lieutenant General of the Pakistan Army. There are three Deputy Director Generals-designated DDG (Political), DDG (External) and DDG (General).

The ISI is staffed mainly by personnel deputed from the police, para-military forces and some specialised units of the Army. There are over 25,000 active men on its staff. The largest wing of the ISI is the Joint Intelligence Bureau; it covers areas like political parties, anti-terrorism, VIP security, labour and students.

The bureau has specialised sections-one dealing exclusively with India, another on Communist countries and the third on Africa and West Asia. This wing is primarily responsible for appointment and posting of personnel at missions abroad. The second most important wing is the Joint Signal Intelligence Bureau which looks after the communication network of the ISI and collects Intelligence through monitoring of communications channels of neighbouring countries. A sizeable number of the staff is from the Army Signal Corps.

It has its units in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar. It monitors, clicks photos and intercepts wireless communication. Its main activity, however, is to keep track of troop movements along the Indian border.

During the 1971 operations, it had over 200 clandestine radio stations on the war front. The third significant wing of the ISI is the Joint Counter-Intelligence Bureau which, as the name suggests, keeps a surveillance on foreign missions and the ISI personnel. The branch which deals exclusively with India is the Joint Intelligence North (JIN).

Its primary responsibility is to carry out operations in J&K and Afghanistan. It has been the main fund-raiser for J&K militants. The wing has also been providing arms and ammunition and operational guidance besides training Kashmiri youth in PoK camps.

The ISI's main target has been Jammu and Kashmir where the first seed of terrorism was planted in the early '80s. It began with indoctrination and an India-hate propaganda. There were innocuous signs of militancy on the street walls where the most timid graffiti read: "Indian Dogs Go Back". These graffiti were soon replaced by street bandhs [strikes] and protest rallies and by the beginning of '90s, active terrorism had begun to creep up the pristine valleys of Kashmir.

The ISI proactively trained frustrated youth, bribed and funded the so-called political and society leaders and subverted the law and order system in the State so much that the Indian Government had to send in the Army. The ISI had achieved first of its objectives early in the '90s.

Kashmir had become an international issue with terrorism taking a deep root in its streets and bylanes. Orchestrated propaganda within and outside the country kept the Kashmir issue alive in international for an objective which gave Pakistan a fake legitimacy of being the underdog. The plan to take over J&K was drafted in the mid-80s. The blueprint was prepared by the ISI chief in 1984 to aid and abet militancy in Kashmir. Amanullah Khan, chairman of the J&K Liberation Front, was consulted, Mohammad Rauf Khan, senior vice-president of the JKLF a terrorist outfit since banned, was sent to the valley in 1978-88 to mobilise youth to join ISI camps across the Line of Control of arms training. Over 20,000 persons infiltrated into Pakistan.

After pushing in militants, initially under the banner of JKLF, ISI floated several organisations-Hizb-ul-Maujahideen, Hizb-ul-Islam, Allah Tigers, Al-Umar Mujahideen, Muslim Mujahideen, Harkat Ul Ansar and Jamaat Hurriyat Conference. Besides funding, the ISI supplied both assault rifles and other sophisticated arms to the militants which included Draganov sniper rifles, anti-aircraft missiles and remote explosives. It also flooded the Valley with Improvised Explosive Devices which, till this date, continue to take a heavy till on security forces deployed for counter-insurgency operations.

The ISI has been concentrating on Punjab, especially after Bhindaranwale inspired terrorism was quashed by KPS Gill and his band of supercops. Since then, the ISI has been promoting various terrorist groups like the International Sikh Youth Federation led by Lakhbir Singh Rode, Khalistan Commando Force, Babbar Khalsa International and Khalistan Liberation Force of Pritam Singh Sekhon.

The ISI has been working in the North-East and Southern parts of India. Its links with North-East insurgents are well documented. It has not only been funding some out of the militant outfits but also been providing them with arms and ammunition and training facilities in neighbouring Nepal. The ISI's hand in the Mumbai and Coimbatore blasts has proved that it has been working quietly in spreading a terror network all over India. So while our soldier are fighting the enemy. Its agents are moving around freely, setting up bombs and creating communal rifts with impunity.

Has ISI's Operation Topac succeeded? This is a question which every citizen of this free democracy should be asking today. [Description of source: The Pioneer--Independent daily with a reputation for strong coverage of domestic issues and thoughtful editorial positions; owned by the Thapar Group]