Operation ‘Fox-Hunt’ (8 page)

The IB is responsible for internal intelligence but also runs some assets and operations in neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Nepal. It is strongest in the Kashmir valley. Its field officers are the nodes for political intelligence gathering. It comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs or MHA as it is known.

NIA was the latest addition to the roster of intelligence units serving the Indian government. It had been formed after the fiasco in Mumbai which had left 163 citizens dead and egg on the faces of every security organisation in the country. NIA has concurrent jurisdiction which empowers the Centre to probe terror attacks in any part of the country, covering offences including challenge to the country’s sovereignty and integrity, bomb blasts, hijacking of aircraft and ships, and attacks on nuclear installations. It also acts as a nodal agency while monitoring inputs from other sister intelligence organisations.

The ground staff of the agency in the national capital is drawn from existing central government officers and security forces
while in the states, permanent deputation from the state police and CID are taken. Other than offences of terrorism, it is also empowered to deal with a host of problems which may feed into terrorism like counterfeit currency, human trafficking, narcotics or drugs, organised crime, plane hijacking and violations of the Atomic Energy Act and weapons of mass destruction.

Today Dubey had three reports: one was from RAW, which basically said that overnight the LET camp at Muridke had been shut down and men and material had been hastily moved out of the camp. The report also claimed that a few weeks back an intelligence source at the camp claimed that a team of twenty men, isolated from the rest of the camp, had been moved out in Air Force lorries. Air Force lorries? Now that’s strange. He read the rest of the report and found that the source had even taken down the formation sign on the side of the lorries; they were from the PAF base at Sargodha. RAW was investigating further; they had a source on the base.

The other report was from India’s mission in West Africa. It seemed the Pakistani PM had cancelled his trip to the small republic with apologies. No reasons were given. That didn’t seem strange. It was when he was reading a report from the Military Intelligence (MI) which claimed that special military trains were moving into Peshawar, a move which is a precursor of military unit movements from the particular area, that he became alert. It further stated that an infantry division was preparing to move back from its deployment in West Pakistan to their former positions in Kashmir. Dubey went through a couple of more reports. He then mailed a summary of his findings to his boss, Anant, and requested a meeting. A moment later he got an SMS from Anant asking to see him. He had a file in hand. It contained the detailed report.

“Sir, it will take three weeks to move the division back to Kashmir. There was no heads-up on the same till last month. In fact, there was a joint Sino-Pakistani exercise which was to be conducted in FATA on 13 December. The participating units from Pakistan were mainly the 3rd infantry division units. Also, the PM’s visit to Burkano Faso was to take place on 17 December. It also seems to have been cancelled without any reason. It seems that the Pakistanis are preparing for something.”

Anant heard him out and also understood the implication of the analysis. “Something is up for sure. Anything else of interest?”

“They just cleared out the camp in Muridke, I am sure it has nothing to do with our MEA’s repeated request,” he said sarcastically. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had been giving proof of this camp for years now. There was no action on it. The Pakistanis cared two hoots and it was clearly visible. He went on to explain the details regarding the Air Force lorries.

“Something is cooking. Dig out some more reports, have a word with the military intelligence chaps. Keep me posted.” Dubey left to carry out his instructions; Anant as head of the Analysis wing went through the detailed report Dubey had left behind.

Anant trusted Dubey. The analyst had spent more than twenty years on the Pakistan desk in various capacities as a RAW operative. His instinct to put together a big picture from diverse inputs had been proven right in many high profile cases. In early 1999, Dubey, then a junior analyst at the Kashmir desk with RAW, had walked in on Anant during a meeting and shared a report with him. The report stated that some senior militant commanders had been spotted near Skardu and some new military units seemed to be inducted into the area. While everyone was looking at Pakistani military data, Dubey had gone
and looked at the movements of paramilitary units and found that the Northern Light Infantry, then a paramilitary force, had been moving troops around and new weapons had been inducted over last three months. He found that the force had cancelled leaves and seemed to be mobilising. He had taken the report to Anant, who had taken it to his boss. In the bonhomie of the Lahore bus ride, the report had somehow never reached the PMO. Events later had proved Dubey’s analysis. Though far-fetched in some scenarios, his ability to create a complete jigsaw from dispersed incidents had earned him Anant’s trust.

Dubey quickly moved back to his desk and called in two of his trusted analysts from RAW. He also called Military Intelligence and spoke to Colonel Thakur. The Colonel promised to come over immediately.

The next morning, a RAW officer attached to the Embassy in the US filed a report. It said that the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in the US had filed a report that they had picked up communication between key LET leader in POK and a field commander in Kashmir. The report stated that the field commander talked about the martyrdom of one Wasim Khan and his men. The key phrase was that the ‘guests’ had gotten away successfully even though an entire detachment was wiped out. Dubey was excited. He knew what they were talking about. There was an MI incident report from the army. He mailed a summary of it to Anant. Anant went through the update and realised that a situation was developing. He alerted the head of NIA and mailed a report to the NSA.

The NSA or the National Security Advisor is a post similar to the one in the US. The NSA is the point man to the government for security and is usually a political appointee with a cabinet rank. He or she heads the National Security Council or NSC which acts as the clearing house of all national security related
issues. He also advises the Prime Minister on intelligence inputs and policy matters.

The NSA, Ajay Nambiar, read the report and summoned Anant to his office. Years in the game had given him a sixth sense. An Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the 1968 batch, Nambiar had spent a long time in the intelligence service. One of the original men to have shaped the intelligence organisations in the country under the mentorship of India’s legendary spy master R.N. Kao, he was one of the last ‘Kaoboys’ around, as the spymaster’s handpicked men were known in the Indian establishment. He had served at the sharp end of espionage. One of his first assignments involved liaison with the Mukti Bahini guerillas of the erstwhile East Pakistan. The operation had won him accolades from both professional as well as political leadership. As he rose in service, his diplomatic tongue and a flair for always being on the right side of India’s dirty political battles had ensured his rapid rise to the post of NSA. It was widely believed that as head of the IB, like others before him, he had access to files on most major political figures including the ‘first family’; but unlike others, he had taken copies out when he had left the bureau. After a string of political and administratively significant and sensitive appointments, he now headed the country’s security apparatus.

Anant presented the entire scenario to the NSA. There was another man in the room. Anant wished him before he started his presentation.

“Thank you, Anant. I want you to get all the papers together and send them across to Lodhi Road. I will have RAW take over the investigation from here onwards. The other man in the room, known by his designation of Secretary-Research in the cabinet secretariat, nodded.

5

Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) HQ, CGO, Lodhi Road, New Delhi

S
ecretary-Research or Secretary-R is a designation for the Director of RAW. He reports on the day-to-day activities of the agency to the National Security Advisor (NSA) while the organisation comes under the Prime Minister’s office. He has the Additional Director, RAW and the Director General Security reporting to him. The DG Security is in charge of the ARC and the SFF, a specialised paramilitary force. The Additional Director has Joint Directors of various desks, Area I−Pakistan, Area II−China and so on, reporting in to him. Also reporting in is the Joint Director of Electronics Intelligence Division and Internal Security.

He went through the reports received from the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). After he had read the entire document, he called in the Additional Director and the head of Area I. Then he made a call to the Army Headquarters and spoke to a senior officer there. His next call was to the head of IB and a brief discussion ended with pleasantries being exchanged. As he disconnected, the line, his personal assistant walked in.

“Jayesh, have a mail sent to the Chief of MI and the IB. Have them send across contact details of the men they are designating
for the investigation I have just discussed with their chiefs. Close it by end of day.” Jayesh nodded and informed that ADG and JD were waiting outside. Secretary-R asked them to be shown in. Once all were seated, he briefed them about the meeting with the NSA and the NIA presentation.

“I want you to put your best man on this. I have a letter from the NSA which allows us to use any resource to get to the bottom of this and let me know if there is something brewing here. I have spoken to the General at the MI as well as the IB. They have the assets and ability to help contribute to this investigation. My PA will mail you the contact details of the designated men from their end. Work with them, use their assets and ours. I want your man to get us to the bottom of this.”

Sanjay Khanna was standing on the roof of the Lodhi Road office having a quiet smoke. He crushed his empty pack of Red & White. A Styrofoam cup with lukewarm coffee was on the ledge. At five feet nine and with an athletic built, he cut a handsome figure. He had always enjoyed the mid-November Delhi winters, in a city he always thought was home. In the last decade he had lived only for two years in the city but he maintained a home here. Sanjay came from Kanpur, a small town in the state of Uttar Pradesh. His father was a local businessman but Sanjay had always wanted to be a cop. He went to college and appeared for his civil services examination thereafter. An IPS officer of the batch, Sanjay had been posted to RAW immediately after his probation. After an intense training session in the RAW training centre at Gurgaon and the SFF base at Chakrata, he was shortlisted for special espionage training with the Israeli MOSSAD. There he had impressed both his instructors and colleagues with his grasping power and coolness under tense situations. His first overseas posting had been with the Indian
military mission in North Afghanistan in 2000. He had done multiple tours of duty in Afghanistan, Kashmir and Myanmar and made regular trips to Afghanistan over the next two years. In 2004, after an operation in Myanmar to assist the military there to flush out anti-India rebels, he had been posted back in Delhi for a while. It was in early 2007 that he found himself being asked to take over an operation being run out of Kandahar with the help of a friendly Baloch rebel. The Baloch needed help to withstand the rampaging ISI and Pakistani occupation forces. A team of RAW agents liaised with some groups and supplied them with arms and ammunition. At the end of 2008, immediately after 26/11, he was given orders to create a force which could retaliate against Pakistani forces in areas adjoining Afghanistan. The Indian government and the security forces were determined to retaliate any action against Indian assets after a series of offensives in Afghanistan by ISI backed forces. A force of Balochs in gulf countries had been put together and an operation was executed. A key target was the Baloch port of Gwadar being developed by the Chinese. Many Chinese companies and military units were involved in developing the port. One of the attacks ended up destroying an electricity substation and killing Chinese Army engineers in the area. This operation shut down the project road work for eight months. It was retaliation for the harassment of the Indian led project in the Kandhar province. In his last operation he had gone along with the rebels into Pakistan to capture an ISI Colonel. Commended and awarded a gallantry medal, he had been brought back to India and now was relaxing in the counter-terrorist task force. This task force had been specially created to counter Pakistani machinations by the government. Sanjay headed it as a senior field officer. Because of the political sensitivities of terror attacks, the task force had priority over resources of the wing. Today he
was awaiting the arrival of his military and IB counterparts for a meeting regarding a new case. He had been briefed by his boss, JD−Area 1 for a possible counter-terror operation. Reading the docket he realised it would require some investigation. He had also sat up late into the night checking intelligence reports and found a couple he thought would connect.