Bomb Blasts in Delhi

More details of ISI- Jehadi collusion in Indian Airlines hijacking. Notice that it is the same person, Cheema, blamed for very different incidents, even by the Nepalis. Also, it is RDX that was used in bomb blasts in Delhi yesterday, Bombay few years back...

INDIA AND NEPAL

The playground of the spies

The seizure of a large quantity of RDX at the house of a Pakistani diplomat stationed in Kathmandu buttresses the impression that the city is being increasingly used by espionage agencies of all sorts.

RAVI SHARMA
in Kathmandu

IF at all any more proof were needed to show that Nepal, and more specifically its dusty capital city of Kathmandu, is being increasingly used as a playground by regional espionage and intelligence agencies, it came on April 12 when the local police discovered a large quantity of high-energy RDX (research department explosive) in a house occupied by the Pakistani Embassy`s First Secretary in Nepal, Muhammad Arshad Cheema.

The incident was telling in two ways: one, it was another indicator of the involvement of Pakistan`s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) operatives in Kathmandu in orchestrating anti-India operations; and two, it pointed to the active presence in the Himalayan kingdom of India`s own external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). As sources in the Nepalese Home Ministry averred last fortnight, there was no way the Kathmandu Police could have traced the RDX unless they had been tipped off and even helped all through the operation by `special sources`. And there are no prizes for guessing who those `sources` were. The same sources had helped the Nepal Police apprehend another Pakistani diplomat in late 1999 in Kathmandu with bundles of counterfeit Indian currency notes.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl1809/18091260.htm

And though the expulsion of Cheema by Nepal a day after the RDX seizure - despite fierce Pakistani protestations - for conduct unbecoming of a diplomat (the terminology used when a diplomat is caught spying), put a temporary end to the unsavoury turn of events, it has highlighted Nepal`s inability to keep itself free of third-country spies. As Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad Bastola told Frontline, ``Friends are turning Nepal into a hotbed of intelligence agencies.``

``And it is not just the ISI and RAW that have been active in Nepal. Besides the Chinese, who have always had a keen interest in this neck of the woods, and the Americans - whose interest in the region flagged after the end of the Cold War but is now likely to grow in the wake of the U.S. row with China over the spy plane incident - there is also the presence of a smaller player, Bhutan, in the espionage game. Bhutanese officials are currently discussing with their Nepalese counterparts the future of over 100,000 Lhotsampa refugees stranded in camps in Jhapa and Morang in Nepal`s eastern Terai belt. Foreign Ministry officials, while reiterating that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had indeed been very active in Nepal during the years of the Cold War, say that it is now only a matter of time before the agency stepped up its presence.

According to sources in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, if the current trend of intelligence and counter-intelligence operations continues, Kathmandu could soon end up being what Berlin or Vienna were during the Cold War, when spies from the Eastern and Western bloc countries vied with one another in a long-drawn game of spy versus spy. Making Kathmandu attractive in this respect is Nepal`s unique geophysical location, friendly relations with both India and Pakistan, a long and highly porous border with India and direct and extensive air links with both protagonists. The availability of a ready stream of local informants and recruiters from among both government officials and private citizens, who have been lured by the prospect of good money, has added to the ease of operation.

With the arrest and expulsion of Cheema, Indian officials in Kathmandu exude an air of I-told-you-so. They had for years seen Cheema as the ISI`s man in Nepal in charge of covert activities - which Pakistan consistently denied.

Cheema was in the news first when he was accused by none other than Nepal`s Inspector-General of Police of handing over 30 kg of RDX to a Punjab militant in 1998. His indirect role in the hijacking to Kandahar of an Indian Airlines aircraft, IC-814, during a flight from Kathmandu`s Tribhuvan airport to Delhi in December 1999 has also been talked about. According to informed sources, Cheema along with two of his associates, Zia Ansari and Abdul Rais Khan - a Nepali Muslim - had been spotted around Tribhuvan airport on the day of the hijacking. According to some reports, Cheema was a regular in the Pakistan Army before being drafted into the ``diplomatic service``.

In the present instance, Cheema, who had completed his official tenure in Kathmandu and was to have left Nepal on April 13-14, could find no escape hatch when a police party led by Kathmandu District Superintendent of Police Madhav Thapa raided the rented house in Baneshwar and found the RDX in a cupboard on the first floor. Cheema and his wife had been staying there for around a week. Cheema, who claimed that he had left his diplomatic quarters hardly a week earlier to stay in the house of a friend, denied any knowledge about the RDX and alleged that someone else had planted it there. The building also housed the offices of Sachel Engineering Works, a construction company run by Pakistani national Hussein Cheema, that maintains a stretch of the Mugling-Pokhara highway around 100 km from Kathmandu.

It is stated that the RDX was brought through the diplomatic channel from Pakistan for use against soft targets in India. It could also have been smuggled across the Chinese border. Explosives originating in Nepal have in recent months increasingly found their way into India`s troubled northeastern States and also Bhutan.

The discovery of such a large quantity of the deadly explosive substance left the Nepalese security agencies red in the face, once again proving the lapses in Nepal`s monitoring mechanisms in Kathmandu. Said a member of the police force: ``The fact that so much of RDX was sitting around in an apartment goes to show the lapses in our own system and also the involvement of a number of local people in the operation.``

COINCIDENTALLY, Cheema`s arrest came close on the heels of the Nepal government`s decision, on `technical grounds`, not to grant permission to Space-Time, a television network allegedly funded by Pakistani intelligence. The Space-Time network has in the recent past been seen as the hub for launching anti-India propaganda, as happened when it mischievously and wrongly publicised remarks purported to have been made by Hindi film actor Hrithik Roshan. A source close to Foreign Minister Bastola said: ``As things stand, the Space-Time television network has been short-circuited by the government. But the daily newspaper (brought out by the group) continues to come out from Kathmandu.``

The lifting of an earlier ban on the controversial network, which is currently run by Jamim Shah, a Nepali of Kashmiri descent, had resulted in the resignation of Nepal`s Information Minister.

For Nepal, the growing activities of regional intelligence agencies on its soil do not augur well. Nepal would like to maintain good relations with all its neighbours, and it certainly would not like its territory to be used as a playground for intelligence agencies of all sorts. A senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: ``We are being used as a football ground by the ISI and RAW.``

Informed sources said that the Ministry has been in touch with Indian friends regarding the possibility of launching joint action to curb ISI activity in Nepal. Minister Bastola said, ``Nepal is committed to stopping this sort of activity.`` But does it have the wherewithal to do so and, more important, the will?

Re: #16 & 17

You seem to have taken over from that esl teacher in cut-n-paste. If you don`t have anything original to say, keep quiet and spare the reader from scrolling down long pages.

Re: # 14

godot:

i would like to advise you not to expect much from these talks.

its going to end in a stalemate. pak will ask for land in lieu of shutting the jihadi tap and india will politely decline it, offering porous/soft borders.

the peace-talks are going to fail irrespective of whether the bombing took place or not. ofcourse unless pak doesn`t want any piece of land or india gives away the valley happily. which is not going to happen.

Re: # 19

Netizen

``the peace-talks are going to fail irrespective of whether the bombing took place or not.``

I don`t share your pessimism. There are smarter people on both sides of the border. What we see in Europe today was not a result of us vs. them, but that of a mutual understanding and a vision of the future for the region.

This is a battle between the hate-mongers and the sane. Let the sanity win.

re: the Delhi blasts
I was of the opinion that Pak is not behind the blasts. Now, i am not so sure.
It does seem a foolish thing to do if indeed Pak did it. Cabinet committe in delhi seem to have come to the conclusion Pak is behind this.
Of course, do not expect India to do a thing. What is the cheapest dispensable thing in India. Clue: what is it that is in abudnance and freely available? Population of course. Unless the jehadis kill some cabinet ministers or some people of consequence, nothing much is going to happen. It will be back to normal in a month.
India is a soft state. It is laughable that it wants to be a major player in the world when it is unable to take care of a puny little country like Pakistan. If all Indians were to decide to go near the wagah border and pee directing the stream towards Pakistan, latter would drown. But the problem is Indians pee in different directions. Net effect is unimpressive.
Sridhar

Re: # 21

``Indians pee in different directions``

When they pee in the direction of Pakistan, they don`t realize that the wind is blowing against them.

Re: # 20

godot:

i like to be a realist neither optimist nor pessimist.

I just wanted to brace you for the outcome, wait and watch.

Re: # 20
godot:

``This is a battle between the hate-mongers and the sane. Let the sanity win. ``

there are hate-mongers and sane people on bith sides. the question here is who is going to yield first? who is going to take it for peace. doesn`t look like any one.

All posters:

Pakistanis mean no harm to India or Indians. You have your own path to follow and we have our own.

Pakistan works very closely with the Governments and the military of the USA, UK, continental European countries (like e.g. Italy, France and Germany), China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philipines and now Australia. We have decided that we will go ahead with the peace process started with India and supported fully by all the above mentioned countries. Pakistan`s stance has been appreciated by all and sundry.

As an aftermath of the earthquake in Pakistan, a typically worrying aspect of Pak-USA relationship has come to an end. The dislike for America by an average Pakistani has been replaced by goodwill for the USA.

In due course of time, Pakistan will also recognize Israel. We already have both formal and informal channels open where the dialogue is continuing.

As regards our relations with India, peace process for us augers well. Lot of Indian businesses have headed for Pakistan establishing their offices, partnerhips, trade and software development centers. Economic activity between the two countries will only increase. This may be disliked by the extremist elements in both the countries, whose sole gain is when the two countries battle each other out, but this is the only way forward.

The Government and people of Pakistan have resolved that we will not fall into any trap of derailing the peace process. Indian Government may go ahead and may pass anti-Pakistani remarks here and there, we have proactively ensured that the powers that be fully understand what the reality is.

For Pakistan once again, peace within and peace without is the way to go forward. We have already begun to achieve some of our major objectives.

Pick up all women under 25 in Kashmir and ship them off to Tamil Nadu. The Masanamuthus would be happy to have fair-skinned wives, Romair would be happy to see the basic complexion of South Indians improve, there will be a stop to the reproduction of Kashmiris and there will be no Kashmir problem in 26 years after the current crop dies off and there is no replacement. Also, institute a free-fire zone throughout Kashmir.

Stop all aid to Kashmir (including Indian side) so that the fcukers can freeze to death this winter.

Institute pants-drop-down tests at all public locations to identify the religion of people. Muslims to be segregated and put on their own buses and train compartments so that they can take their people with them to jannat.

Oh, make Narendra Modi Chief Minister of Kashmir, UP, MP and Bihar. I think he has the bandwidth to handle all four states.

All of this ought to get the Islamic thugs under control.

Re: # 25

ahmadzai:

``Pakistanis mean no harm to India or Indians. ``

as long as the jihadi network exist in pak/PoK, india and indians will be harmed.

all we want is to dismantle the jihadi infrastructure and/or help us to manage the jihadi infiltration. it would help both the countries by combatting this jihadi menace.

Re: # 25

ahmedzai,

......... aap kay mun mein ghee shakar .........this is all well and good, but i just saw this guy on ary (dr, aniq ?) talking to a bearded mullah and a non-bearded mullah - they both agreed that muslims could not be ``friends`` with the kufar, specially the yahud !.......... and they both used ``authentic`` hadiths to make their case ......... as long as muslims are fed this kind of crap there is no hope and i cannot blame the horrible hindoos and other assorted kafirs for being suspicious of the ummah`s true intentions !............ of the other two channels, one had an idiot alim talking to a crowd of women in shrouds, and the other was showing taraweeh prayers at the mecca disneyworld ............. there is something terribly wrong !

Re: # 28

hamid:

It is a reality that the average Mulla will continue to talk crap, that the media will continue to project their viewpoints, especially in Ramadan, and that a few extremists (counterparts of Indian extremists) will continue to believe them. However, it is also a reality that an overwhelming majority of Pakistanis are not extremists, they do not listen to the Mulla or to Taraveeh prayers broadcast on ARY but to Music. They watch fashion shows and movies and those who can`t are working their butts off to find decent living. All businessmen in Pakistan and India want the peace process to go forward for mutual gains. It is economics that will prevail, not the narrow minded version of religion as described by a rejected few.

In my earlier post, I have briefly outlined our blue print. This is the reality. Although some elements or even a country`s Government as a whole may try to derail the peace process by accusing Pakistan here and there, we will not get de-focused. The powers that be have Okayed the path we have chosen.

Godot: STFU!!

Ahmadzai:

`` It is economics that will prevail, not the narrow minded version of religion as described by a rejected few``

That is what one hopes. But the narrow minded version of religion was advocated by the Pakistani establishment during Zia`s time onwards and has not been countered in a serious way yet. Okay, maybe it has been after Musharraf was attacked, but there still seems to be a reluctance to grab the bull by the horns.

I don`t know if we have reached the end of history but we have certainly reached the end of conventional wars...wars where 2 professional armies face each other and fight to the last man or decide inbetween who won.....one side surrenders, other hugs and they talk peace.

We will see for a long time this unconventional warfare AKA terrorism. Any country who tries to fight it in a conventional way like Dubya is trying will be stupid and find itself in troubles and will be shamed for violating even slightly from those great war rules compiled in 29th century in Geneva....while unconventional soldiers maim and kill civilians in sabzi mandies, schools and trains.

One side will have to change or we will see more if this for long time.


Hamidm: Geo is showing free promotional these days.....man...after listening sermons of TV mullahs, I feel like hugging our chowk mullahs - these guys sound almost fake compared to real ones. what a mixutre of fire, hatred, piousness and self delusion!!