Terror in Islamabad: A top secret mission, all for the nation, all for the truth

New Delhi, Nov 24: The former special secretary of the Research and Analysis Wing, Amar Bhushan never fails to impress.

After the ever gripping, 'Escape to Nowhere,' and 'The Zero-Cost Mission/ Wily Agent,' Bhushan offers us 'Terror in Islamabad,' an edge of the seat thriller that is published by Harper Collins.

A cultural attache at the Indian Embassy in Pakistan, Amit Munshi goes undercover on a top-secret mission, with his life, and many others', at stake. All for the nation. And the truth. As an agent of India's External Intelligence Agency in a foreign country, with which relations are at best strained, Veer navigates threats and evades suspicion for a time.

Soon it becomes clear that counter-intelligence forces are out to get him, even as they fail to find proof of his activities. How long can a lone man survive when confronted with a formidable enemy on its own turf?

Terror in Islamabad is a gripping thriller and tells us the many, many, many sacrifices that our undercover agents make.

You can buy the book here:

OneIndia caught up Amar Bhushan to speak about his latest offering. He says that this is a serious problem between the two countries. Whenever we get hold of someone in their mission, they get a hold on someone who belongs to India. This is typically a retaliatory tactic all countries, but Pakistan is the worst, says Amar Bhushan.

In India, we detain, then question, following which we inform them and then hand them over. In their case, it has always been a violent process, Bhushan also adds.

In this book I speak about an agent, who was chased by the ISI for more than three years. They did not find a shred of evidence. It was in fact a fantastic operation and the Pakistanis were unable to get a grip of what was happening. The focal point is how the agent comes out of the situation, despite being subject to violence and brutality. More importantly, despite what he faced, he came out without compromising on security. In any given situation, the agent would have divulged details. He stood his ground and fooled them all along, says Bhushan.

When asked about how different was this book when compared to his three earlier offerings, Bhushan says that this time I was not involved in this. I had to heavily rely on what the officer had to say and hence the effort was much more. The writing did not come naturally and wherever I got stuck, I would get back to the officer.

He said none had asked him what happened to him. I told the officer not to hide anything from me. I have made it clear in the book that whatever he went through was horrifying.

On being asked how different it is to be a spy now and back then, Bhushan said that it much easier now. Now you do not have to physically run your sources. You can have assets in other countries to get you information. You can message the source. We would meet the source in person, but now you can do it through messages and phone. In the past, we had to meet the source personally, Bhushan says.

On the ISI, Bhushan says that he does not understand why people rate them so high.

They are known for their crudeness. They do not even pay their assets well and when it comes to Kashmir, they pay peanuts and get the work done, Amar Bhushan also says.