Investigation: Underground Pakistanis; Trained for India

With Pakistan's ISI using bonafide visitors to India as its conduits, the threat of cross-border terrorism assumes a new dimension

KAMAL AHMED'S students admired him. The schoolteacher from Hyderabad could make solving algebraic equations seem like child's play. But when Ahmed started encouraging his students to attend meetings of the Students' Islamic Movement of India, the authorities got suspicious. Ahmed was arrested late last year when it became clear that he was actually Khurram Khan, a Pakistani national who had links with militants.

KAMRAN GOHAR
First came to Delhi in 1986

His task: Identify agents, sell fake currency and deliver explosives to contacts.
One of the lynchpins of the ISI in Delhi, this 37-year-old was arrested from the Cantonment area on January 16 this year with 1 kg of RDX, two lethal timers and four detonators, all concealed in a toy car. He had been staying in a rented accommodation in Brahmapuri, Karol Bagh, since September 1999 when he was sent by the ISI to identify likely agents in India. With the help of forged passports Gohar -- who hails from Lahore -- had been shuttling in and out of the country under the guise of different businessmen since 1986 when he made his first visit on a valid visa. In July 1994 he was caught selling counterfeit currency and was jailed for nine months. When granted bail, he fled to Lahore only to return two years later to continue with subversive activities. Over the past one year, he has sold fake currency worth over Rs 16.5 lakh, besides facilitating the delivery of explosives to fellow agents in Delhi. Thirteen of his contacts, including two Pakistanis, who bought fake currency from him have also been held.

Khan's arrest has only strengthened the apprehensions of the Indian intelligence agencies that more and more Pakistanis -- who initially come to India as bona fide visitors -- are eventually signing up with subversive organisation. Scores of passengers aboard the Samjhauta Express -- which links Lahore and Attari in Amritsar twice a week -- have been found carrying wads of fake currency notes and even lethal RDX concealed in toy cars. The alarming increase in the number of bonafide visitors acting as couriers for the ISI has sparked off a debate within the ministries of home and external affairs, with senior Home Ministry officials even recommending that the train be suspended for a while.

Recently, the Centre asked the home departments of different states to furnish data on how many Pakistani visitors have actually overstayed. The country, it appears, has 12,000 unwelcome guests. Of them, 70 per cent have been detected, but the rest have simply gone underground. "It is not that all of them are involved in subversive activities,'' clarifies a senior intelligence officer. But he points out that ISI agents blackmail these people to either act as courier or they are reported to the police.

Many of the overstaying Pakistanis are innocent people who came here to meet family members separated by Partition. Others stay on because they find more lucrative jobs and then settle down in Muslim-dominated localities. But, as a Home Ministry official says, "We now find that they too soon start indulging in activities that are not very friendly.''

KHURRAM KHAN
First came to Hyderabad in 1997

A teacher in an Urdu school, he has close contacts with Islamic fundamentalists. A schoolteacher in Hyderabad, Khan was arrested in August 1999 for suspected antinational activities. A first class science graduate from Punjab University, Lahore, he had earlier been working as a typist for a banking corporation in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He came to India for the first time from there in May 1997 but returned a month later. After cheating his employers, he obtained a fake passport to India in August 1997 and took up a job with an Urdu-medium school in Hyderabad. While teaching, he began encouraging students to attend meetings of the Students' Islamic Movement of India. In July 1999, he moved to another school and developed close contacts with Islamic fundamentalists. His actual role as an agent is under investigation.

The ISI doesn't really need to trap passengers considering that it manages to infiltrate hard-core mercenaries in large numbers into Kashmir. But as another Home Ministry official puts it, "This trend is clearly linked to the ISI's game plan of expanding its activities into small towns and cities. Safe havens are being set up at the district levels and below and these are serving as readymade shelters for the ISI agents who stay for a couple of days and move on to another destination.''

Take the recent arrest of an ISI operative in Rajasthan. Zafaria, a Pakistani national, was caught accepting defence documents from Ramzan, a resident of Jaisalmer. Ramzan was apparently pressured into the act because his brother is married to a Pakistani. Says Laxman Meena, dig, Jodhpur range: "While some of them are cultivated as agents and then sent to India, others are coerced into helping the Pakistani spies through pressure put on their family members across the border." Care is taken even when the agents are cultivated. Quite a few enter the country as valid visa holders and even return within the stipulated time frame. This makes it easier for them to get visas the second time. It's then that they are used for nefarious activities. Like Mahmood Khan, who was caught with Rs 2 lakh in fake currency on his second trip to Mumbai.

IMAMAT
First came to a Rajasthan border village in 1999

A Pakistani national she is residing in a "restricted" area along the Indo-Pak border.
This 20-year-old Pakistani national was arrested from a hutment in remote Dhani, a "restricted" area 100 km from Jaisalmer along the Indo-Pak border in April 1999, for taking up illegal residence. Her husband Jania was charged with providing shelter to her. As it turns out, Jania had gone to Pakistan on an Indian passport in 1996 and married Imamat. Living in a restricted area, he knew the difficulties of getting Indian citizenship for his wife. So a year ago, he got himself and his sister Bhago a visa to visit Pakistan. Bhago was married off and left behind while Imamat came back with him as Bhago. She now insists she is Indian-born.

It is not just the activities the Pakistani visitors are indulging in that should be a cause for worry. What the ministries of home and external affairs need to put their heads together on now is the ease with which the visa holders manage to give the police a slip. Both Pakistan and India grant only city-specific visas to each other's nationals, who are required to report to the Foreigners' Registration Officer within 24 hours of their arrival. They also have to inform the authorities of any onward journey to another city 24 hours before the departure. Yet, the Pakistanis manage to overstay and even go underground. In several cases, they are arrested from places -- often sensitive border areas like Jaisalmer and Barmer -- which are not mentioned on their visas.

The External Affairs Ministry is opposed to the idea of locking the wheels of the Samjhauta Express. It feels that the suspension will hit genuine passengers who can only afford to travel by train. But the Home Ministry is concerned about this new trend of the ISI using ordinary passengers as conduits.

While the two debate the fate of the Samjhauta Express, one thing is clear. India needs to keep an eye on the estimated two lakh Pakistanis who visit India every year, many of whom find little difficulty in tearing their passports and settling down here.

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	Feb 28, 2000