Ghosts from the past: Pak spies had a free run during Cong rule

There are many instances that indicate that there were dangerous slip-ups in country's internal security during the Congress rule

New Delhi, July 12: A Pakistani journalist made an explosive claim in which he said that during his visit to India many times during Congress rule, he would pass on information to the ISI.

While the claim is shocking it is hardly even surprising considering the number of such incidents that have taken place in India. The journalist Nusrat Mirza said that he was invited to India at the time of the Vice Presidentship of Hamid Ansari who was the 12th Vice President of India between 2007 and 2017.

The case of Mirza is not an isolated one. One must recall the incidents surrounding the Mumbai 26/11 attack. The two classic examples of when the government and the agencies were caught napping were the ones relating to the visits by David Headley and Said Mir.

Mir, 44, was recently sentenced by an anti-terrorism court in Lahore to fifteen and a half years in jail. Mir remained a shadowy character, but the world had information on the existence of this man in 2002 itself.

He had attempted purchasing military equipment from the US with the help of his Virginia based accomplices. However the project did not go through after the FBI arrested 11 people in what came to be known as the Virginia Paintball Jihadi case.

A bounty of $5 million had been offered under the Rewards for Justice Programme for any information on Mir, who went on to become the chief planner of the 26/11 attacks.

Mir had a huge role to play in the attacks and the investigations showed that he had planned the reconnaissance along with David Headley, became his handler and also directed the attacks from an ISI safe house in Pakistan.

The trouble, however, was that the establishment was unable to pick up any information on Mir and in 2005 he made a very brazen visit to India as a cricket fan. An official explains to OneIndia that despite his name cropping up in 2002 itself, the establishment was pretty careless in letting in the Pakistan cricket fan to watch a match between the two countries. What was worse is that he stayed in India for 15 days and this clearly is an indicator that the required background verification was not done on him.

Mir's visit and stay in India went on to become the stepping stone for Headley's visit. Headley, originally known as Daud Geelani, was also on the radar of the American agencies. He was an agent who turned rogue when he was sent on a mission to Afghanistan. From there he travelled to Pakistan where he met with the ISI, Sajid Mir and Ilyas Kashmiri, the chief of Al-Qaeda's 313 Brigade.

It was with Kashmiri that he planned the Mumbai attacks following which he executed it with the help of Mir. Headley visited India on numerous occasions and had alone carried out the reconnaissance in Mumbai and Pune. He befriended the high and mighty in Mumbai including director Mahesh Bhatt's son Rahul Bhatt.

Headley had a free run in India and was welcome in all key places. There was not an iota of information on him at that time and none found his movements to be suspicious even.

Following the attacks at Mumbai, the investigators had only one name to begin with and that was Ajmal Kasab one of the 10 terrorists who carried out the attack. Headley's name came up only a year later when the FBI arrested him. None in the establishment had even heard of this name, although the Americans maintained that they had given India prior information on Headley. If that claim is true then it is clear that the establishment of the day ignored the same.