12 tales: The spies who came back from Pakistan and those who didn't--IBN LIve
Ramraj, Gubakhsh Ram, Ram Prakash, Om Prakash, Vinod Sawhny, Suram Singh, Balwir Singh, Devut, Sunil, Daniel, Tilak Raj, Surinder Pal,
Spies - the forgotten warriors of the covert wars. They cross borders to help governments seek vital information and also to carry out secret operations. Though not remotely as glamourous a profession as cinema would like us to believe, their story takes on darker hues if they happen to be caught in enemy terriorry. Many don't return and those who do, find themselves shunned and unrecognised by the very people who recruited them.
At Delhi's Jantar Mantar, a group under the banner of the Jammu Ex-Sleuths Association, are sitting in protest. They consist of those who call themselves ex-spies, family members of those still in Pakistani captivity and of those who died in Pakistani jails.
Their demands do not appear to be much, but they haven't been met in all these years. Rehabilitation, compensation and perhaps a little recognition is all that they ask for.
Here are a dozen stories, as told to us, of the spies who came back and those who didn't.
After working for an intelligence agency for 18 years accompanying spies as a guide, Ramraj says he was sent to Pakistan as a spy on September 18, 2004 but was caught the very next day. After two years in captivity, Ramraj was finally sentenced to jail in Pakistan for six years. Upon returning to India after almost eight years in February 2004, he tried to reach out to the officials who had sent him as a spy, but Ramraj says they refused to recognise him.
After completing a year of training, he was sent to Pakistan in 1988. His job was to garner information about the arms and ammunitions used by the Pakistan military. With the job done, he was returning to India after two years but was caught on the border. He was taken to Sialkot's Gora jail for interrogation and was confined there for around two-and-a-half years. The documents he had collected were also seized and he was sentenced to 14 years in prison. He was released from jail in 2006.
Ram Prakash
Trained as a photographer for almost a year before he was sent by an intelligence agency to Pakistan in 1994. While returning back to India on June 13, 1997, he was arrested and was interrogated in Sialkot's Gora jail for a year and kept under detention before a court imprisoned him for 10 years in 1998. 59-year-old Ram boasts that he had crossed the border roughly 75 times in three years before he was finally caught. He was sent back to India on July 7, 2008.
Kamal Kumar, son of Om Prakash
Kamal Kumar says his father Om Prakash had gone to Pakistan in 1998. His family came to know about this from a letter that his father sent from Pakistani captivity. Om Prakash would send his family letters regularly, but his last letter arrived on July 14, 2012. For over a year Kamal has no clue whether his father is alive or not.
12 tales: The spies who came back from Pakistan and those who didn't - IBNLive
While a political ado is being witnessed in Pakistan on the suspected change of the Pak-China Economic Corridor route, Chinese authorities have cautioned local authorities of a possible terror attack aimed at making the project a failure.
According to them, insurgents in Balochistan have prompted security fears for the 3,000-kilometre-long route in the province, a senior security official told The Express Tribune on Friday.
He said in addition to the insurgents, many foreign hostile intelligence agencies could also extend their support to the militants to sabotage some key projects particularly on the eastern alignment — Gwadar to Quetta — where work has already started.
Read: China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: Lines of development – not lines of divide
“The Chinese have sounded a note of ‘caution’ soon after reports suggested foreign agencies’ support to militants,” said the official, who attended an important meeting discussing key issues relating to Gwadar Port and Economic Corridor at the Ministry of Defence this week.
He further said, “Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), with other hostile agencies, is at the frontline to sabotage this project – that is what Chinese intelligence agencies shared with us.”
He added that the meeting also discussed concerns the Chinese authorities reminded Pakistan’s military and civilian government about an attack on state-run installations in Gwadar district last month, which were conveyed last month.
Security measures
Meanwhile, a special security division consisting of more than 8, 000 military personnel (nine army battalions) has been trained and will guard key projects linked from Hyderabad to Karachi and Gwadar through N-10 East Bay Expressway along the coastal line, officials overseeing the security of this route said.
They further said that an estimated 9, 000 security personnel – comprising Rangers, Levies, police, scouts – making up six wings will assist the military to guard more than 15,000 Chinese workers on this route.
Moreover, a major-general-rank officer will command the entire unit. Apart from guarding the economic corridor, an estimated 8,000 security officials have already been deployed for more than 8,112 Chinese workers executing 210 projects in Pakistan.
Gwadar Airport
An official of the Ministry of Interior revealed that the security layer around the Gwadar International Airport — a project costing $230 million to start this month — has been doubled following recent threats.
A similar case of security is with China-Pakistan Friendship Hospital and Pak-China Technical and Vocational Institute falling under the jurisdiction of Balochistan, he added.
Security will have to be strengthened further as around 7, 000 additional Chinese workers are expected to join the already engaged teams to execute multi-billion projects around the route connecting Kashgar with Pakistan at Kunjarab – a point from where China wants to link to Gwadar port in the Arabian Sea.
Commenting on the complex situation, former caretaker interior minister Malik Habib said the reported presence of foreign elements in Balochistan poses a big challenge for law enforcement agencies to provide security to Chinese workers.
“The economic corridor is strategically very important — many hostile agencies have started backing Baloch militants,” he said.
According to Director Pakistan Institute of Strategic Studies Amir Rana, “China’s main worry seems to be the overall security of the corridor in the near future.”
Substantiating his point, Rana said threats such as tribal feuds, militants in Diamer, Baloch insurgents, political issues, nationalist and separatists groups link directly to the corridor security.
RAW at frontline to sabotage Economic Corridor, China warns Pakistan - The Express Tribune
