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| June 12, 2000 | ||
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| TERRORISM The Kathmandu Nexus A 'secret' report reveals that post-hijack, the ISI is consolidating its base in Nepal through politicians, businessmen and NGOs By Harinder Baweja
June 6: National Security Adviser and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Brajesh Mishra is scheduled to leave for the same destination. The first is concerned with tourism and revenue, the second with growing terrorism sponsored by the ISI in the region. The two hardly go together but then Mishra is privy to information collated by the country's intelligence agencies in conjunction with the ministries of home and external affairs. He will be carrying with him a "secret" report titled Pakistan's Anti-India Activities in Nepal. The 78-page report details various aspects of Pakistan's "undeclared war'' and its modus operandi; even naming senior Nepalese politicians who have been cultivated by the ISI, which has made the Himalayan kingdom a staging post for its activities since 1990. Intelligence agencies have in the past been providing inputs on the ISI's operations but this report -- obtained by INDIA TODAY -- delves deeper, going beyond the ambit of gold smuggling and fake currency rackets. Prepared after the hijacking, it probes the extent to which Pakistan has spread its tentacles in Nepal. It also looks at the demographic changes that have come about due to the mushrooming of NGOs and madarsas which are abetting the spread of terror. According to the report, there is ample evidence to prove that the hijacking of IC 814 was masterminded by the ISI and carried out by the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM), previously known as Harkat-ul-Ansar (HUA). The operation, it says, was facilitated by intelligence agents posted in the Pakistan Embassy in Kathmandu such as Mohammed Arshad Cheema, first secretary who had come to the adverse notice of Indian and Nepalese security agencies in the past as well. Ominously, HUM and HUA are reported to be expanding their network in Nepal, a development that has grave security implications for both countries. In 1999, a few months before the hijack, the HUM set up units in several districts, including Damak, Nepalgunj and Biratnagar. "In a secret meeting held at Damak in September 1999, the future programmes of the outfit were discussed, among them recruitment of new cadres and arms training for them," reveals the report. "After training, these cadres would be sent to Kashmir to assist the Mujahideen in their fight against India." It was also decided to establish more masjids and madarsas to spread Islam in Nepal and to carry out covert activities in India. Amir Zafar, a Pakistani national and HUM activist, visited Kathmandu in November 1999 to strengthen the ISI foothold in Nepal. The ISI had even earmarked Rs 75 lakh for the purpose. Significantly, the HUA held a meeting in Chandragarhi, Jhapa, on January 13 this year at which its president Habib Ansari exhorted activists in Nepal to keep a low profile for some time as the Napalese authorities had stepped up vigil after the hijack. He also observed that the release of HUA General Secretary Maulana Masood Azhar in Kandahar by the Indian authorities was a morale booster for all those struggling for the cause of Islam in their fight against India. The report says officials posted at the Pakistan Embassy in Kathmandu play an active role in motivating and financing agents waging the proxy war. Names of these officials have been mentioned in relation to activities like hijacking, political funding and circulation of fake currency. "Smuggling, which was the exclusive preserve of elite groups during the three-decade-long Panchayat Raj in Nepal, flourished on a grand scale after the restoration of multi-party democracy," observes the report. "In the absence of any industry worth the name, most parties and leaders had turned to smugglers and businessmen of dubious repute for political funding." There is reliable information that local gold smuggling syndicates offer up to Rs 15 crore a month to the political masters and their lieutenants in the police and revenue administration "as consideration for being given the 'licence' to smuggle Indian and foreign currency abroad from Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) and bring in gold in the reverse direction". The report carries the names of 24 politicians from different parties who have links with the ISI, some of whom have even been funded. "In recent months," says the report, "there has been a phenomenal increase in the circulation of fake Indian currency notes which have been pumped into Nepal by the ISI with the aim of destabilising the Indian economy, besides raising funds for the promotion of terrorism." As early as August 1998, Nepalese national Nayeem Shah, who was arrested in Kathmandu along with Indian nationals Harpal Singh and Amit Pal Singh for possession of fake Indian notes totalling Rs 3.5 lakh, disclosed that the notes had been given to him by the late Nepalese politician Mirza Dilshad Beg prior to his assassination. The role of Pakistan in the fake currency racket was once again exposed following the arrest of another Indian national, Lokesh Kumar, at TIA in June 1999. Notes worth Rs 62 lakh were recovered from him. Investigations revealed that Kumar had been working at the behest of Pakistani national Shahnawaz, alias Khalid Aslam, and his associates Maksud Lala and Shabir Ali Shah, also from Pakistan. The report says even the recent arrest of Asam Saboor, a Pakistan Embassy official pointed to the Pakistani hand. An identified ISI official, he was caught red-handed by the Nepalese police while trying to dispose of a consignment of counterfeit Indian notes amounting to Rs 50,000 in Kathmandu. The official was reportedly in possession of counterfeit notes worth more than Rs 2 crore which he destroyed by burning just before to his arrest and subsequent expulsion from Nepal. Among the other Pakistanis who were
abetting terrorism in India, the report mentions: According to the report, while the steady migration of Bangladeshi Muslims to the Terai considerably contributed to this increase, the influx of Pakistanis is also a major factor. Along with the increase in Muslim population, a number of Muslim NGOs have also sprung up. Ostensibly working for the social and educational uplift of the Muslim community, most of these organisations are reported to be receiving substantial and wholly unregulated funding from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya and other Islamic countries. The report says these NGOs have been "promoting ill-will against India among the Nepalese Muslim community by circulating propaganda material received from Pakistan and elsewhere, criticising India's treatment of its minorities". What is more frightening, continues the report, is the spread of madarsas, financed and controlled by these Islamic NGOs. The dangers posed to India's security by the insidious growth of the anti-Indian, fundamentalist Islamic network along the borders of communally sensitive states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were highlighted by the arrest of Azizuddin Sheikh, an ISI-trained Mumbai underworld element, in June 1999. His interrogation revealed the blatant misuse of a madarsa by Dawood Ibrahim's lieutenant Chhota Shakeel and his associates for storing AK-47 rifles and other sophisticated weapons meant to be smuggled into India for carrying out sensational attacks on VIPs. Pakistan, clearly, is taking advantage of the open border Indo-Nepal policy which has been codified under the provisions of the 1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship but is devoid of any analysis of the implications of the threat. The Government of India is also silent on why it has not brought pressure on Nepal to tighten the screws on the activities of the ISI. The resumption of IA flights is hardly a step in the right direction. Less so is Mishra's visit, unless it comes up with concrete measures to counter terrorism, India's topmost threat. The full report can be accessed at The Nepal Gameplan |
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June
1: Indian Airlines (IA) resumes flights to Kathmandu, five months after
the infamous hijacking of IC 814 from the Nepalese capital to Kandahar,
the Taliban headquarter. The first flight from Delhi takes off with an
important passenger on board -- Sunil Joshi, the newly appointed managing
director of IA.