RAW supplied missiles to Taliban?
Muhammad Saleh Zaafir
Thursday, May 14, 2015
From Print Edition
ISLAMABAD: The terrorist outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed through social media that it possess surface to air missiles, GTAM-7.
The Taliban have shown launching it by its personnel through a video on social media. The TTP claimed earlier that a helicopter that was crashed in Naltar valley on Friday last was also hit by it with the GTAM-7 but later it was established through eyewitnesses’ statements and surviving passengers of the chopper that mechanical fault at the eleventh hour was the cause of the accident. The initial technical report has also endorsed the view that technical snag was the cause of the crash.
The TTP on these findings didn’t insist on its claim and opted to keep quiet on the subject and its claim. Highly placed defence sources working with diplomatic assignment claimed while talking to The News Wednesday that India is the only country that possesses GTAM-7 currently as its Russian made weapon and no other country of the region is having this type of missile. It has been already reported that India’s spy agency RAW has established a special desk in its headquarters to foil Pakistan-China Economic Corridor (PCEC) project and for the purpose a huge amount of money has been placed on its disposal. RAW has planned to destabilise Pakistan through its agents inside Pakistan and it is working on various fronts including sabotage and killings. The Indian spy agency is also in touch through its mission in Islamabad with certain political figures who are also harping on the tune of Indians. The sources reminded that the GTAM-7 and training for its launching has surely been provided by India to the TTP. The GTAM-7, which is also known as SAM-7, is a Soviet-built, shoulder-launched, surface-to-air missile. First developed in 1959, and first deployed in combat in 1968, the SAM-7 is still in use today. The purpose of the SAM-7 is air defence and to force low-flying aircraft (under about 2,300 meters) into higher altitudes where radar can detect them. The SAM-7 not only represents an enduring and effective military technology, but it also represents the proliferation of small, portable missile technology that has been licensed and adapted throughout the world, especially in less-developed nations. The grip stock is standard and has received upgrades and modifications in the power supplies and radar over the years. The United States Air Force, Office of Air Force Intelligence, consigned this missile to the National Air and Space Museum in 1990 as the US doesn’t use it any further, the sources added.
RAW supplied missiles to Taliban? - thenews.com.pk