B.RAMAN
The R&AW has been the target of considerable
criticism in sections of our media over what they have perceived as its serious
blunder in disseminating a HUMINT report regarding plans of the Lashkar-e-Toiba
(LET), the Pakistani terrorist organisation, to carry out major acts of
catastrophic terrorism in Gujarat and Mumbai. There has even been a campaign of
ridicule against the organisation which has been sought to be projected as
nincompoop.
2. “The Hindu” of May 11,2012, has carried an
eight-column report on Page 15 under the title
“R&AW Left With Egg on Its Face As Terror Plot Unravels” contributed jointly by Praveen Swami, who enjoys a tremendous reputation in media circles of New Delhi, and his colleague Muhammad Ali.
“R&AW Left With Egg on Its Face As Terror Plot Unravels” contributed jointly by Praveen Swami, who enjoys a tremendous reputation in media circles of New Delhi, and his colleague Muhammad Ali.
3. To quote from the first para of the report: “
The Research & Analysis Wing, India’s external intelligence service, is
facing allegations of incompetence after three Lashkar-e-Toiba operatives who,
it claimed, were about to conduct a
suicide squad operation in Western India turned out to be living at their home
in Lahore and to be businessmen, not terrorists.” This gives the essential gist
of the story.
4.There has been a negative projection of the
R&AW not only by “The Hindu”, but also by others. Along with its HUMINT
report, the R&AW had disseminated pics of the three alleged terrorists of
the LET who, according to it, had infiltrated into India along with two others
to carry out the feared acts of terrorism. The Mumbai Police correctly released
to the public the salient points of the report along with the pics as received
from the R&AW. These pics were carried by a journal of Delhi on its web
site. The three persons concerned, living in Lahore, thereupon appeared in
public in Lahore and sought to ridicule the R&AW.
5. The definite embarrassment to the R&AW has
been sought to be exploited in Pakistan
for discrediting it. It has been projected as an example of the kind of
baseless reports which the agency disseminates regarding terrorism allegedly
emanating from Pakistan. The main objective of the campaign in Pakistan has
been to discredit the R&AW in the eyes of the Indian public and the
international community and to project its reporting on Pakistan-based
terrorism as untrustworthy.
6. The brunt of the criticism in the Indian media
has been over what many have seen as the propensity of the R&AW to
disseminate uncorroborated reports and create false alarms and its perceived
naivete in walking into a trap laid from Pakistan.
7.There are certain standard operating procedures
followed by intelligence and security agencies all over the world regarding the
handling of HUMINT or TECHINT reports which speak of an imminent act of
terrorism. The most important point of this procedure is: Act on the report as
if it is true until or unless it is proved to be false. Hence, all intelligence
agencies immediately disseminate such reports with appropriate qualifications
and simultaneously undertake a verification to establish the veracity of the
report. If the veracity is not established, they call off the alert.
8. That is exactly what the R&AW has done and
it would be totally uncharitable and unprofessional to find fault with it and
ridicule it for doing what it was expected to do under the standard operating
procedures. If one reprimands and ridicules an agency for doing what it was
required to do because its report proved to be incorrect, it could hesitate in
future to sound alerts on the receipt of HUMINT reports and that could prove
catastrophic.
9. That is what those orchestrating the
anti-R&AW campaign from Pakistan--- whether the Inter-Services Intelligence
or the LET or both—want---- to create in the R&AW a mental hesitation in
disseminating future HUMINT reports so that they can take advantage of it for
carrying out an act of terrorism. The R&AW officers should not let
themselves be inhibited from future reporting because of this campaign against
it in Pakistan as well as in sections of the Indian media.
10. At the same time, there are some disturbing
follow-up questions arising from this incident that need to be attended to. The
first question is who was the human source--- is he a trans-border source or
one based in Pakistan or some third country? If he is a trans-border source, is
he based in India or Pakistan? The second question is, is he a new and untested
source or is he an old and tested source?
11. If he is a new and untested Pakistani source,
all that the R&AW has to do is to discard him. If he is an Indian source,
there could be reason to suspect that he is a Pakistani mole. He would need to
be arrested and interrogated .
12. If the source---whether Indian or
Pakistani---is an old source all his past reports need to be re-examined in
order to see whether any action had been taken against any Indian national on the basis of reports
from this source who has now turned out to be tainted.
13. The other aspect needing attention is how did
those behind the campaign in Pakistan notice so quickly the pics released by
the Mumbai Police, unless they were expecting this to happen, and exploited it
to embarrass the R&AW. This would clearly show a well-planned and well-executed
operation to damage the reputation of the R&AW.
14.Normally, it may not be possible to carry out
such operations without the support of accomplices in India. Are there such
accomplices who played a role in this?
15.Incidents such as these are occupational hazards
in the intelligence profession. This is not the first time this has been
happening. We have had such incidents in the days of Khalistani terrorism. This is not the last time this will
be happening.
16. There is no need for the R&AW to be
defensive or be apologetic about it. It should take it in its stride and hold a
thorough enquiry into the whole affair to avoid the possibilities of such
incidents in future. ( 12-5-12)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd),
Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director,
Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For
China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com Twitter : @SORBONNE75 )
