Has the Kashmir people in India right of self determination?
What about the Khalistan movement and India's treatment of the freedom movement?
And most henious crime against humanity is the eviction of Nepalese speaking people from Bhutan backed by India. No wonder the largest joke to democracy -- India -- didnot speak anything against it? Has is suggested Bhutan dictator to talk to Nepalese langushing in Nepal's refugee camps? The Nepalese in Nepal's camps are fighting to go back home even after more than a decade India stops them on Mechi bridge, a shameless act of largest shame on democracy.
What about the Darjeling movement of separate state? Why is India not ready to recognize Gurkhaland movement and suppression of communist West Bangal? Communist Sita Ram Yechuri doesnot suggest anything on Gurkhaland but he is very actively suggesting in Nepal's case, why is he or any of the Indians so hyperactive in Nepal?
How can India force Nepal to hold talks with the armed goons operating from Indian soil -- Who is supplying arms to all the armed groups like Goit and Jwala Singh operating from Indian soil against Nepal --- Mr Man Monhan Singh can you answer?
Has India any right -- moral or immoral -- to dicatate Nepal?
The Partition of India in 1947 promised its people both political and religious freedom—through the liberation of India from British rule, and the creation of the Muslim state of Pakistan. But Still Kashmir is fighting for freedom. The divide brought displacement and death, and it benefited the few at the expense of the very many. Thousands of women were raped, at least one million people were killed, and ten to fifteen million were forced to leave their homes as refugees. One of the first events of decolonization in the twentieth century, Partition was also one of the most bloody.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Cold questions for embattled Nepal
The upshot of it all is that Nepal should be allowed to emerge as a stable democracy. The beneficiary would be Nepalis as well as both the countries in their neighborhood. The sooner the neighbors realize this, the better.By Dhruba Adhikary
Nepal's capital on Wednesday appeared like a city under seize, with shops closed and serpentine lines of vehicles in front of gas stations. Few residents, already struggling to survive cold winter days and nights amid power interruptions of eight hours a day, had expected supply lines cut a week before to remain severed for so long.
Bitter experience prompts residents to blame what is effectively a blockade on the country's Maoists and their militant wing, Young Communist League (YCL), whose president on February 7 said it was capable of "capturing" the entire Kathmandu valley in just five minutes. The use of threat and intimidation continues even as the country is preparing for elections scheduled for April 10.
Yet the "credit" for effectively disrupting supply lines to Kathmandu, the seat of Nepal's political powers, is being taken by a coalition of three parties which were formed in recent months. The parties, together with some armed groups, are based in the country's southern plains, the Terai region, bordering mainly with the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Six demands they have advanced include "autonomy with right to self-determination" for the entire region. Interim Prime Minister Koirala and his coalition partners read secessionist tenor in this demand, and appear unwilling to meet it at least until the elections to the Constituent Assembly are held.
There is a perception that the Terai groups would not have been able to impose a blockade on the capital and the rest of the country if they had not been encouraged and aided by the government in India.
Unlike in the late 1980s, when Indian authorities directly imposed a trade and transit blockade to take revenge on Nepal for having imported some of its military supplies from China, the blockade this time has been applied indirectly - through Terai groups.
The possibility that leaders of these groups are being handled by New Delhi has to be seen in the context of their frequent meetings with the Indian ambassador in Kathmandu, some of which have been reported by Nepal's electronic media. One such meeting was brought to the public notice by a television channel on February 20.
Only a week ago, an Indian delegation led by Congressman Digvijaya Singh visited Kathmandu when Singh's public statements said India favored neither monarchy nor any other particular group among Nepal's disputing political factions, and that New Delhi would welcome a decision by the people of Nepal. This public posture resembled to the approach from Beijing. But what is happening on the ground is different. The visiting Indian politician, for instance, assured Mahantha Thakur, chairman of the recently formed Tarai-Madhes Loktantrik Party, in private conversation that he wished that their six-point demand be fulfilled. Thakur himself revealed this information to the media.
His party, together with other two, has decided to stay away from the hustings. India's role - some call it outright interference - in recent times has been pervasive. In a media interaction a few weeks ago, Interim Prime Minister Koirala said that the problems created in Terai could be resolved "in a minute" if India offered sincere cooperation.
His remarks apparently made New Delhi unhappy as they gave credence to public perceptions that the Indian authorities have a hand in the Terai unrest. "I have told India and the UN that I will not compromise on [ Nepal's] sovereignty and integrity," Koirala stated at a high level meeting of the party he heads, Nepali Congress, on February 17.
Even so, a noted Nepali columnist described Koirala recently as a "puppet" of India. Pushpa Kamal Dahal (aka Prachanda) leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the military wing of CPN (M), is equally uncomfortable with the meddlesome role that New Delhi is playing. Like Koirala, he too thinks the Terai agitation would not be sustained "even for a minute" if India stopped supporting those associated with it. In a public meeting held on February 12, Prachanda also accused Nepal's discredited palace and Americans for having instigated Terai groups. Prachanda and some of his comrades-in-arm obtained shelter in India during the "people's war" they conducted in Nepal. He spent eight of 10 years up to 2006 in India.
Prachanda's assessment coincides with an analysis based on the views of the India's main opposition party, BJP, that the Manmohan Singh government has "outsourced" its Nepal policy to its communist coalition partner and leader Sitaram Yechuri. And, as far as Washington is concerned, it outsourced its Nepal policy to New Delhi, in bid to lure Indians into the fold of strategic partnership. Americans also found it expedient to help India to contain China - Nepal's neighbor to the north. Nobody knows how and when Beijing will react to all these developments.
Meanwhile, another dimension surfaced on Tuesday when the constitutionally sidelined King Gyanendra issued a message to the nation asking his countrymen to pay attention to safeguard Nepal's integrity, independence and nationalism.
The occasion was Democracy Day, which reminded the people of the country's first attempt at democracy in 1951. In the message, Gyanendra described his grandfather, Tribhuvan, as the architect of democracy. And the message was made public in His Majesty's name. The interim constitution does not have provision for the monarchy. Parties promoting a pro-republican agenda, including Maoist leaders, denounced the move and have seen it as a part of a Western conspiracy to prevent them from reaching power.
By alluding to Nepal's integrity, independence and nationalism, Gyanendra appeared to be telling Nepalis that he too sees a threat to the existence of Nepal as an independent country. Those who continue to support the monarchy in Nepal (simultaneously being critical of Gyanendra and his son Paras) hastily cite the sequence of events in Sikkim in the 1970s - the Himalayan territory was eventually annexed by India, in 1974. First, the Sikkimese people were encouraged to get rid of their monarchy, then an elected assembly was prodded to pass a resolution seeking merger with India. Being a part of India, Sikkimese did get democracy, and lost their country in the process.
Nepal's larger size and status, analysts contend, is not comparable with Sikkim's; not even with Bhutan's. But they do agree that a separatist movement in Terai needs to be read in the context of what happened in Kosovo, with its declaration of independence from Serbia, earlier this week.
The upshot of it all is that Nepal should be allowed to emerge as a stable democracy. The beneficiary would be Nepalis as well as both the countries in their neighborhood. The sooner the neighbors realize this, the better.
Nepal's capital on Wednesday appeared like a city under seize, with shops closed and serpentine lines of vehicles in front of gas stations. Few residents, already struggling to survive cold winter days and nights amid power interruptions of eight hours a day, had expected supply lines cut a week before to remain severed for so long.
Bitter experience prompts residents to blame what is effectively a blockade on the country's Maoists and their militant wing, Young Communist League (YCL), whose president on February 7 said it was capable of "capturing" the entire Kathmandu valley in just five minutes. The use of threat and intimidation continues even as the country is preparing for elections scheduled for April 10.
Yet the "credit" for effectively disrupting supply lines to Kathmandu, the seat of Nepal's political powers, is being taken by a coalition of three parties which were formed in recent months. The parties, together with some armed groups, are based in the country's southern plains, the Terai region, bordering mainly with the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Six demands they have advanced include "autonomy with right to self-determination" for the entire region. Interim Prime Minister Koirala and his coalition partners read secessionist tenor in this demand, and appear unwilling to meet it at least until the elections to the Constituent Assembly are held.
There is a perception that the Terai groups would not have been able to impose a blockade on the capital and the rest of the country if they had not been encouraged and aided by the government in India.
Unlike in the late 1980s, when Indian authorities directly imposed a trade and transit blockade to take revenge on Nepal for having imported some of its military supplies from China, the blockade this time has been applied indirectly - through Terai groups.
The possibility that leaders of these groups are being handled by New Delhi has to be seen in the context of their frequent meetings with the Indian ambassador in Kathmandu, some of which have been reported by Nepal's electronic media. One such meeting was brought to the public notice by a television channel on February 20.
Only a week ago, an Indian delegation led by Congressman Digvijaya Singh visited Kathmandu when Singh's public statements said India favored neither monarchy nor any other particular group among Nepal's disputing political factions, and that New Delhi would welcome a decision by the people of Nepal. This public posture resembled to the approach from Beijing. But what is happening on the ground is different. The visiting Indian politician, for instance, assured Mahantha Thakur, chairman of the recently formed Tarai-Madhes Loktantrik Party, in private conversation that he wished that their six-point demand be fulfilled. Thakur himself revealed this information to the media.
His party, together with other two, has decided to stay away from the hustings. India's role - some call it outright interference - in recent times has been pervasive. In a media interaction a few weeks ago, Interim Prime Minister Koirala said that the problems created in Terai could be resolved "in a minute" if India offered sincere cooperation.
His remarks apparently made New Delhi unhappy as they gave credence to public perceptions that the Indian authorities have a hand in the Terai unrest. "I have told India and the UN that I will not compromise on [ Nepal's] sovereignty and integrity," Koirala stated at a high level meeting of the party he heads, Nepali Congress, on February 17.
Even so, a noted Nepali columnist described Koirala recently as a "puppet" of India. Pushpa Kamal Dahal (aka Prachanda) leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the military wing of CPN (M), is equally uncomfortable with the meddlesome role that New Delhi is playing. Like Koirala, he too thinks the Terai agitation would not be sustained "even for a minute" if India stopped supporting those associated with it. In a public meeting held on February 12, Prachanda also accused Nepal's discredited palace and Americans for having instigated Terai groups. Prachanda and some of his comrades-in-arm obtained shelter in India during the "people's war" they conducted in Nepal. He spent eight of 10 years up to 2006 in India.
Prachanda's assessment coincides with an analysis based on the views of the India's main opposition party, BJP, that the Manmohan Singh government has "outsourced" its Nepal policy to its communist coalition partner and leader Sitaram Yechuri. And, as far as Washington is concerned, it outsourced its Nepal policy to New Delhi, in bid to lure Indians into the fold of strategic partnership. Americans also found it expedient to help India to contain China - Nepal's neighbor to the north. Nobody knows how and when Beijing will react to all these developments.
Meanwhile, another dimension surfaced on Tuesday when the constitutionally sidelined King Gyanendra issued a message to the nation asking his countrymen to pay attention to safeguard Nepal's integrity, independence and nationalism.
The occasion was Democracy Day, which reminded the people of the country's first attempt at democracy in 1951. In the message, Gyanendra described his grandfather, Tribhuvan, as the architect of democracy. And the message was made public in His Majesty's name. The interim constitution does not have provision for the monarchy. Parties promoting a pro-republican agenda, including Maoist leaders, denounced the move and have seen it as a part of a Western conspiracy to prevent them from reaching power.
By alluding to Nepal's integrity, independence and nationalism, Gyanendra appeared to be telling Nepalis that he too sees a threat to the existence of Nepal as an independent country. Those who continue to support the monarchy in Nepal (simultaneously being critical of Gyanendra and his son Paras) hastily cite the sequence of events in Sikkim in the 1970s - the Himalayan territory was eventually annexed by India, in 1974. First, the Sikkimese people were encouraged to get rid of their monarchy, then an elected assembly was prodded to pass a resolution seeking merger with India. Being a part of India, Sikkimese did get democracy, and lost their country in the process.
Nepal's larger size and status, analysts contend, is not comparable with Sikkim's; not even with Bhutan's. But they do agree that a separatist movement in Terai needs to be read in the context of what happened in Kosovo, with its declaration of independence from Serbia, earlier this week.
The upshot of it all is that Nepal should be allowed to emerge as a stable democracy. The beneficiary would be Nepalis as well as both the countries in their neighborhood. The sooner the neighbors realize this, the better.
(It was published on http://www.nepalnews.com/ and has been reproduced on http://www.nepalnews.com/ courtesy http://www.atimes.com/.)
Sunday, February 24, 2008
PM to seek landlocked country’s rights
Arjun Bhandari
Kathmandu, February 23
Considering perennial crisis of petroleum products and other essential goods, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala today told top leaders of the SPA that he would seek rights of the landlocked country to ease up the crisis, according to a source close to the PM.
“It’s high time that Nepal sought the rights of the landlocked country to ensure smooth supply of essential goods, including the petroleum products,” the source quoted the PM as telling top leaders of the CPN-UML, CPN-Maoist, Janamorcha Nepal and NWPP at a meeting in Baluwatar.
The source told this daily that the PM would “use diplomatic channels with Nepal’s friendly countries” to ensure continued supply of petroleum products and other essential goods in the country. “The ongoing Tarai unrest is not the only cause of crisis in the supply of petroleum products but other aspects are also involved in it,” the source quoted the PM as telling the SPA leaders.
The PM is said to have told UML general secretary and Maoist chairman that he would hold talks with the agitating parties in any part of the world if that helped resolve the crisis. Sources said the PM would take “appropriate steps” by tomorrow evening if the UMDF leaders did not give up the demand of one Madhes, one Pradesh by tomorrow morning. The source, however, did not say what steps he would take to bail out the country from the ongoing crisis.
------
It proves India is after all the parties to destroy this country. The friends and supporters of the Nepali political parties.
Nepali Congress - K V Rajan, Digvijaya Singh
Palace - Digvijaya Singh, Rajnath Singh
Maoists - S D Muni, Sitaram Yechuri
Madhesi parties (UMDF) - Indian embassy
Saturday, February 2, 2008
What is RAW?
Research and Analysis Wing [RAW]
The Research and Analysis Wing [RAW] is India's foreign intelligence agency. RAW has become an effective instrument of Indian national power, and has assumed a significant role in carrying out India's domestic and foreign policies. RAW has engaged in espionage against Pakistan and other neighboring countries. It has enjoyed the backing of successive Indian governments in these efforts. Working directly under the Prime Minister, the structure and operations of the Research & Analysis Wing are kept secret from Parliament.
Founded in 1968, RAW focused largely on Pakistan. Its formation was initially motivated by reports of Pakistan supplying weapons to Sikh militants, and providing shelter and training to guerrillas in Pakistan.
Numerous missions were assigned to RAW upon its creation. These included monitoring political and military developments in neighboring countries that affects Indian national security. Consequently, considerable attention is paid by RAW to Pakistan and China, countries that are traditional rivals of India.
RAW has evolved from its origins as a part of the Intelligence Bureau to develop into India's predominant intelligence organization. In 1968, RAW had 250 agents and a budget of Rs. 2 crore. This has expanded to a 2000 total of an estimated eight to ten thousand agents and a budget that experts place at Rs. 1500 crore, alternately estimated at $145 million.
Pakistan has accused the Research and Analysis Wing of sponsoring sabotage in Punjab, where RAW is alleged to have supported the Seraiki movement, providing financial support to promote its activities in Pakistan and organizing an International Seraiki Conference in Delhi in November-December 1993. RAW has an extensive network of agents and anti-government elements within Pakistan, including dissident elements from various sectarian and ethnic groups of Sindh and Punjab. Published reports in Pakistan allege that as many as 35,000 RAW agents entered Pakistan between 1983-93, with 12,000 working in Sindh, 10,000 in Punjab, 8,000 in North West Frontier Province and 5000 in Balochistan.
RAW has a long history of activity in Bangladesh, supporting both secular forces and the area's Hindu minority. The involvement of RAW in East Pakistan is said to date from the 1960s, when RAW supported Mujibur Rahman, leading up to his general election victory in 1970. RAW also provided training and arms to the Bangladeshi freedom fighters known as Mukti Bahini. RAW's aid was instrumental in Bangladesh's gaining independence from Pakistan in 1971.
During the course of its investigation the Jain Commission received testimony on the official Indian support to the various Sri Lankan Tamil armed groups in Tamil Nadu. From 1981, RAW and the Intelligence Bureau established a network of as many as 30 training bases for these groups in India. Centers were also established at the high-security military installation of Chakrata, near Dehra Dun, and in the Ramakrishna Puram area of New Delhi. This clandestine support to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), some of whom were on the payroll of RAW, was later suspended. Starting in late 1986 the Research and Analysis Wing focused surveillance on the LTTE which was expanding ties with Tamil Nadu separatist groups. Rajiv Gandhi sought to establish good relations with the LTTE, even after the Indian Peace Keeping Force [IPKF] experience in Sri Lanka. But the Indian intelligence community failed to accurately assess the character of the LTTE and its orientation India and its political leaders. The LTTE assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was apparently motivated by fears of a possible re-induction of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka and a crackdown on the LTTE network in Tamil Nadu.
RAW was heavily criticized in 1999, following the Pakistani incursions at Kargil. Critics accused RAW of failing to provide intelligence that could have prevented the ensuing ten-week conflict that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of full-scale war. While the army has been critical of the lack of information they received, RAW has pointed the finger at the politicians, claiming they had provided all the necessary information. Most Indian officials believe that in order to prevent another such occurrence, communication needs to be increased between the intelligence agencies, which would require structural reform.
Most recently, RAW has gained attention for providing the US with intelligence on Al-Qaeda and Taliban targets for the war on terrorism in Afghanistan. Maps and photographs of terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan, along with other evidence implicating Osama bin Laden in terrorist attacks, were given to US intelligence officials.
* * * The objectives of RAW include:
To monitor the political and military developments in adjoining countries, which have direct bearing on India's national security and in the formulation of its foreign policy.
To seek the control and limitation of the supply of military hardware to Pakistan, mostly from European countries, the USA and China.
The chief of the RAW is designated Secretary (Research) in the Cabinet Secretariat, which is part of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). Most of the position's occupants have been experts on either Pakistan or China. The head of the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), the external intelligence agency, enjoys greater autonomy of functioning than their counterparts in the UK and US and has the same privileged direct access to the Prime Minister as their UK counterparts. The control of the Cabinet Secretary over the RAW is limited to administrative and financial matters, with very little say in operational and policy matters.
They also have the benefit of training in either US or the UK, and more recently in Israel. The Secretary (R) reports on an administrative basis to the Cabinet Secretary, who reports to the Prime Minister (PM). However, on a daily basis the Secretary (R) reports to the National Security Advisor. Reporting to the Secretary (R) are: Two Special Secretaries and one Special Director of the ARC, the Aviation Research Centre; Four Additional Secretaries, responsible for different geographical regions; A large number (above 40) Joint Secretaries, who are the functional heads of various desks.
The structure of the RAW is a matter of speculation, but brief overviews of the same are present in the public domain. Attached to the HQ of RAW at Lodhi Road, New Delhi are different regional headquarters, which have direct links to overseas stations and are headed by a controlling officer who keeps records of different projects assigned to field officers who are posted abroad. Intelligence is usually collected from a variety of sources by field officers and deputy field officers; it is either pre-processed (vetted) by a senior field officer or by a desk officer. The desk officer then passes the information to the Joint Secretary and then on to the Additional Secretary and from there it is disseminated to the concerned end user. The Director RAW is a member of the JIC Steering Committee and is authorized to brief the Prime Minister should the need arise.
Some officers of the RAW are members of a specialized service, the Research and Analysis Service (RAS), but several officers also serve on deputation from other services. The RAW has sub-organizations like the Aviation Research Center (ARC), the Radio Research Center (RRC) or the Electronics and Technical Service (ETS), which have considerable capacity for technical intelligence gathering. Another important branch under the operational control of the RAW is the Directorate General of Security (DGS). This agency has oversight over organizations like the Special Frontier Force (SFF), the Special Services Bureau (SSB) etc... Liaison with the military is maintained through the Military Intelligence Advisory Group and the Military Advisor to the Director RAW.
Though the RAW is primarily intended for collecting intelligence beyond India's national borders, it has over time come to have a strong presence in all fields of intelligence gathering. The RAW was brought into internal security issues during the Sikkim situation, it played a role in the events of the emergency of 1977-79, it was asked to operate in Punjab to counter-balance the presence of the ISI (and so also in Kashmir), and the RAW has provided the security for the India's nuclear program. Right from its formation in 18 September, 1968, R N Kao, the founding father of RAW, picked up the best men from within government and from outside for RAW. A combination of military, academicians, bureaucrats and policemen was a fine start for RAW which modelled itself on the lines of CIA.
The Research and Analysis Wing [RAW] is India's foreign intelligence agency. RAW has become an effective instrument of Indian national power, and has assumed a significant role in carrying out India's domestic and foreign policies. RAW has engaged in espionage against Pakistan and other neighboring countries. It has enjoyed the backing of successive Indian governments in these efforts. Working directly under the Prime Minister, the structure and operations of the Research & Analysis Wing are kept secret from Parliament.
Founded in 1968, RAW focused largely on Pakistan. Its formation was initially motivated by reports of Pakistan supplying weapons to Sikh militants, and providing shelter and training to guerrillas in Pakistan.
Numerous missions were assigned to RAW upon its creation. These included monitoring political and military developments in neighboring countries that affects Indian national security. Consequently, considerable attention is paid by RAW to Pakistan and China, countries that are traditional rivals of India.
RAW has evolved from its origins as a part of the Intelligence Bureau to develop into India's predominant intelligence organization. In 1968, RAW had 250 agents and a budget of Rs. 2 crore. This has expanded to a 2000 total of an estimated eight to ten thousand agents and a budget that experts place at Rs. 1500 crore, alternately estimated at $145 million.
Pakistan has accused the Research and Analysis Wing of sponsoring sabotage in Punjab, where RAW is alleged to have supported the Seraiki movement, providing financial support to promote its activities in Pakistan and organizing an International Seraiki Conference in Delhi in November-December 1993. RAW has an extensive network of agents and anti-government elements within Pakistan, including dissident elements from various sectarian and ethnic groups of Sindh and Punjab. Published reports in Pakistan allege that as many as 35,000 RAW agents entered Pakistan between 1983-93, with 12,000 working in Sindh, 10,000 in Punjab, 8,000 in North West Frontier Province and 5000 in Balochistan.
RAW has a long history of activity in Bangladesh, supporting both secular forces and the area's Hindu minority. The involvement of RAW in East Pakistan is said to date from the 1960s, when RAW supported Mujibur Rahman, leading up to his general election victory in 1970. RAW also provided training and arms to the Bangladeshi freedom fighters known as Mukti Bahini. RAW's aid was instrumental in Bangladesh's gaining independence from Pakistan in 1971.
During the course of its investigation the Jain Commission received testimony on the official Indian support to the various Sri Lankan Tamil armed groups in Tamil Nadu. From 1981, RAW and the Intelligence Bureau established a network of as many as 30 training bases for these groups in India. Centers were also established at the high-security military installation of Chakrata, near Dehra Dun, and in the Ramakrishna Puram area of New Delhi. This clandestine support to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), some of whom were on the payroll of RAW, was later suspended. Starting in late 1986 the Research and Analysis Wing focused surveillance on the LTTE which was expanding ties with Tamil Nadu separatist groups. Rajiv Gandhi sought to establish good relations with the LTTE, even after the Indian Peace Keeping Force [IPKF] experience in Sri Lanka. But the Indian intelligence community failed to accurately assess the character of the LTTE and its orientation India and its political leaders. The LTTE assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was apparently motivated by fears of a possible re-induction of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka and a crackdown on the LTTE network in Tamil Nadu.
RAW was heavily criticized in 1999, following the Pakistani incursions at Kargil. Critics accused RAW of failing to provide intelligence that could have prevented the ensuing ten-week conflict that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of full-scale war. While the army has been critical of the lack of information they received, RAW has pointed the finger at the politicians, claiming they had provided all the necessary information. Most Indian officials believe that in order to prevent another such occurrence, communication needs to be increased between the intelligence agencies, which would require structural reform.
Most recently, RAW has gained attention for providing the US with intelligence on Al-Qaeda and Taliban targets for the war on terrorism in Afghanistan. Maps and photographs of terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan, along with other evidence implicating Osama bin Laden in terrorist attacks, were given to US intelligence officials.
* * * The objectives of RAW include:
To monitor the political and military developments in adjoining countries, which have direct bearing on India's national security and in the formulation of its foreign policy.
To seek the control and limitation of the supply of military hardware to Pakistan, mostly from European countries, the USA and China.
The chief of the RAW is designated Secretary (Research) in the Cabinet Secretariat, which is part of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). Most of the position's occupants have been experts on either Pakistan or China. The head of the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), the external intelligence agency, enjoys greater autonomy of functioning than their counterparts in the UK and US and has the same privileged direct access to the Prime Minister as their UK counterparts. The control of the Cabinet Secretary over the RAW is limited to administrative and financial matters, with very little say in operational and policy matters.
They also have the benefit of training in either US or the UK, and more recently in Israel. The Secretary (R) reports on an administrative basis to the Cabinet Secretary, who reports to the Prime Minister (PM). However, on a daily basis the Secretary (R) reports to the National Security Advisor. Reporting to the Secretary (R) are: Two Special Secretaries and one Special Director of the ARC, the Aviation Research Centre; Four Additional Secretaries, responsible for different geographical regions; A large number (above 40) Joint Secretaries, who are the functional heads of various desks.
The structure of the RAW is a matter of speculation, but brief overviews of the same are present in the public domain. Attached to the HQ of RAW at Lodhi Road, New Delhi are different regional headquarters, which have direct links to overseas stations and are headed by a controlling officer who keeps records of different projects assigned to field officers who are posted abroad. Intelligence is usually collected from a variety of sources by field officers and deputy field officers; it is either pre-processed (vetted) by a senior field officer or by a desk officer. The desk officer then passes the information to the Joint Secretary and then on to the Additional Secretary and from there it is disseminated to the concerned end user. The Director RAW is a member of the JIC Steering Committee and is authorized to brief the Prime Minister should the need arise.
Some officers of the RAW are members of a specialized service, the Research and Analysis Service (RAS), but several officers also serve on deputation from other services. The RAW has sub-organizations like the Aviation Research Center (ARC), the Radio Research Center (RRC) or the Electronics and Technical Service (ETS), which have considerable capacity for technical intelligence gathering. Another important branch under the operational control of the RAW is the Directorate General of Security (DGS). This agency has oversight over organizations like the Special Frontier Force (SFF), the Special Services Bureau (SSB) etc... Liaison with the military is maintained through the Military Intelligence Advisory Group and the Military Advisor to the Director RAW.
Though the RAW is primarily intended for collecting intelligence beyond India's national borders, it has over time come to have a strong presence in all fields of intelligence gathering. The RAW was brought into internal security issues during the Sikkim situation, it played a role in the events of the emergency of 1977-79, it was asked to operate in Punjab to counter-balance the presence of the ISI (and so also in Kashmir), and the RAW has provided the security for the India's nuclear program. Right from its formation in 18 September, 1968, R N Kao, the founding father of RAW, picked up the best men from within government and from outside for RAW. A combination of military, academicians, bureaucrats and policemen was a fine start for RAW which modelled itself on the lines of CIA.
Major operations of RAW
ELINT operations in Himalayas:
[21]After China tested its first nuclear weapons on October 16, 1964, at Lop Nur, Xinjiang, India and USA shared a common fear about the nuclear capabilities of China.[22] Owing to extreme remoteness of Chinese testing grounds and strict secrecy surrounding the Chinese nuclear programme, it was almost impossible to carry out any HUMINT operation. So CIA in late 60s decided to launch an ELINT operation along with R&AW and ARC to track China's nuclear tests and monitor its missile launches. The operation, in the garb of a mountaineering expedition to Nanda Devi involved celebrated Indian climber M S Kohli who along with operatives of Special Frontier Force and CIA most notably Jim Rhyne, a veteran STOL pilot, was to place a permanent ELINT device, a transceiver powered by a plutonium battery, that could detect and report data on future nuclear tests carried out by China[23]. The monitoring device was near successfully implanted on Nanda Devi, however an avalanche forced a hasty withdrawal[24], later a subsequent mountain operation to retrieve or replant the device was aborted when it was found that the device was lost. Recent reports indicate that radiation traces from this device have been discovered in sediment below the mountain[25]. However the actual data is not conclusive. Pakistan's Lt. Gen A. A. K. Niazi signs the instrument of surrender on December 16, surrendering his forces to India's Lt. Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora.Creation of Bangladesh:[26] [27]
the early 1970s the army of Pakistan prosecuted a bloody military crackdown in response to the Bangladesh independence movement.[28][29] Nearly 10 million refugees fled to India. The R&AW's Bangladesh operation began in early 1970 by sowing discord among the disgruntled population of Bangladesh (then called East Pakistan), suffering brutal repression by the Pakistani political establishment. This led to the creation of Mukti Bahini and under its cover R&AW operatives infiltrated into East Pakistan for guerrilla operations, blowing up Pakistani assets to damage the operational mobility of their troops. Mujibur Rahman's Assassination: R&AW operatives claim that they had advance information about Mujib-ur-Rahman's assassination but tragically Sheikh Mujib ignored[2] R&AW's inputs and was killed along with 40 members of his family. R&AW thus failed to prevent the assassination which led to the loss of a charismatic leader who had a soft corner for India after all they had done for his countries' independence. However recently R&AW has successfully thwarted plans of assassinating Sheikh Hasina Wazed, daughter of Mujibur Rahman, by Islamist extremist, LTTE and ISI[30].
Operation Smiling Buddha: Operation Smiling Buddha was the name given India's nuclear programme. The task to keep it under tight wraps of security was given to R&AW.[31] This was the first time that R&AW was involved in a project inside India. On 18 May 1974 India detonated a 15-kiloton plutonium device at Pokhran and became a member of the nuclear club.
Amalgamation of Sikkim: Bodered by Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and West Bengal in the Eastern Himalayas Sikkim was ruled by a Maharaja. The Indian Government had recognized the title of Chogyal (Dharma Raja) for the Mahraja of Sikkim. In 1972 R&AW was authorized to install a pro-Indian democratic government there. In less than three years Sikkim became the 22nd State of the Indian Union, on April 26, 1975. Kahuta's Blueprint:[32] [33] Ordinance Blueprint,Khan Research Laboratories, A.Q. Khan Laboratories, Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL), Kahuta, Pakistan 33°39'11"N 73°15'33"E.
Kahuta is the site of the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), Pakistan's main nuclear weapons laboratory as well as an emerging center for long-range missile development. The primary Pakistani fissile-material production facility is located at Kahuta, employing gas centrifuge enrichment technology to produce Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU). R&AW agents claim that in early 1978[34], they were on the verge of obtaining the plans and blueprint for Kahuta Research Laboratories that was built to counter the Pokhran atomic blast, but the then Indian Prime Minister Morarji Desai not only refused to sanction the $ 10,000 demanded by the R&AW agent, but informed Pakistan of the offer[35]. According to conflicting reports, Pakistanis caught and eliminated the R&AW mole.
Special Operations:In the mid 1980s RAW set up two covert groups, Counterintelligence Team-X(CIT-X) and Counterintelligence Team-J(CIT-J), the first directed at Pakistan and the second at Khalistani groups. Rabinder Singh, the R&AW double agent who defected to the United States in 2004, helped run CIT-J in its early years. Both these covert groups used the services of cross-border traffickers to ferry weapons and funds across the border, much as their ISI counterparts were doing. According to former R&AW official and security analyst B. Raman, the Indian counter-campaign yielded results. "The role of our cover action capability in putting an end to the ISI's interference in Punjab", he wrote in 2002, "by making such interference prohibitively costly is little known and understood." These covert operations were discontinued during the tenure of IK Gujral.[36]
Kanishka Bombing case:[37][38][39] On 23 June 1985 Air India's Flight 182 was blown up near Ireland and 329 innocent lives were lost. On the same day another explosion took place at Tokyo's Narita airport's transit baggage building where baggage was being transferred from Cathay Pacific Flight No CP 003 to Air India Flight 301 which was scheduled for Bangkok. Both aircraft were loaded with explosives from Canadian airports. Flight 301 got saved because of a delay in its departure. This was considered as a major set back to R&AW for failing to gather enough intelligence about the khalistani terrorists[40].[41]
Operation Cactus:[42] In November 1988, the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), composed of about 200 Tamil secessionist rebels, invaded Maldives. At the request of the president of Maldives, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Indian armed forces, with assistance from R&AW, launched a military campaign to throw the mercenaries out of Maldives. On the night of November 3, 1988, the Indian Air Force airlifted 6th parachute battalion of the Parachute Regiment from Agra and flew them over 2,000 km (1,240 mi) to Maldives. The Indian paratroopers landed at Hulule and restored the government rule at Malé within hours. The operation, labelled Operation Cactus, also involved the Indian Navy. Swift operation by the military and precise intelligence information quelled the insurgency.
SriLanka:[43] [44]. R&AW started training the LTTE to keep a check on Sri Lanka, which had helped Pakistan in the Indo-Pak War by allowing Pakistani ships to refuel at Sri Lankan ports, but LTTE created lot of problems and complications and then Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi was forced to send Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to restore normalcy in the region. The disastrous mission of Indian Peace Keeping Forces (IPKF) was blamed by many on the lack of coordination between the IPKF and R&AW. Its most disastrous manifestation was the Heliborne assault on LTTE HQ in the Jaffna University campus in the opening stages of Operation Pawan. The site was chosen without any consultation with the R&AW. The dropping paratroopers became easy targets for the LTTE. A number of soldiers were killed. The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi is also blamed as a fallout of the failed R&AW operation in Sri Lanka. [45].
Operation Chanakya:[46] A Pakistan magazine Herald published a cover story on the terrorist training camps in Pakistan, which was training Kashmiri and Afghan militants. A follow up story by Dawn newspaper confirmed its existence.[47]This was the R&AW operation in the disputed Kashmir region to infiltrate various ISI-backed Kashmiri terrorist groups and restore peace in the Kashmir valley. R&AW operatives infiltrated the area, collected military intelligence, and provided evidence about ISI's involvement in training and funding Kashmiri terrorist groups [48][49]. R&AW was successful not only in unearthing the links between the ISI and the terrorist groups, and also in infiltrating and neutralizing the militancy in the Kashmir valley.[50][51][52] Operation Chanakya also marked the creation of pro-Indian groups in Kashmir like the Ikhwan-ul-Muslimeen, Musleem Mujahideen etc. These counter-insurgencies consist of ex-militants and relatives of those slain in the conflict. Ikhwan-ul-Muslimeen leader Kokka Parrey was himself assassinated by terrorists.
Disturbances in Pakistan:[53] The Pakistani government claims that dissent among the Balochis, tribals in the North-West Frontier Province, Waziristan, Northern Areas and rural sindhi population is due to R&AW's interventions[54]. Pakistan also claims that R&AW has established its training camps in Afghanistan in collaboration with the Northern Alliance in a bid to destabilise the region, as a retaliation for Pakistan's involvement in Kashmir.[55] It is also claimed by Pakistani authorities that approximately 600 ferraris (Baloch tribal dissidents) and members of Islamic Emirate of Waziristan were trained to handle explosives and use sophisticated weapons in these camps.[56] While Pakistan has long complained of India-engineered terrorism on its soil, there is so far no reputable open-source account of either its scale or its course and the Indian government has steadfastly denied any involvement in the Baloch-NWFP problem.
Kargil War: R&AW was heavily criticized in 1999, following the Pakistani incursions at Kargil. Critics accused R&AW of failing to provide intelligence that could have prevented the ensuing ten-week conflict that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of full-scale war. While the army has been critical of the lack of information they received,[57] R&AW has pointed the finger at the politicians, claiming they had provided all the necessary information. Most Indian officials believe that in order to prevent another such occurrence, communication needs to be increased between the intelligence agencies, which would require structural reform.
Help to Northern alliance: After the rise of Pakistan backed Taliban in Afghanistan, India decided to side with the Northern Alliance. This relationship was further cemented in the 2001 Afgan war.[58] By 1996 R&AW had built a 25 bed military hospital[59] at the Farkhor Air Base[60], this airport was used by Aviation Research Centre, the reconnaissance arm of R&AW, to repair and operate Northern Alliance's aerial support. India also supplied the Northern Alliance high altitude warfare equipment worth around $8-10 million[61][62]. A handful of Indian defence advisers who reportedly included an officer in the rank of Brigadier, were based in Tajikistan to advise the Northern Alliane in operations against the Taliban[63]. R&AW was the first intelligence agency to determine the extent of Kunduz airlift.[64]
Operation Leech: Surrounded by Arakans and dense forest Myanmar had always been a worrisome point for Indian intelligence. As the major player in the area India always sought to promote democracy and install friendly governments in the region. To these ends, R&AW cultivated Burmese rebel groups and pro-democracy coalitions, especially the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) [65]. India allowed KIA to carry a limited trade in jade and precious stones using Indian territory and even supplied them weapons. It is further alleged that KIA chief Maran Brangsein met the R&AW chief in Delhi twice. However when KIA became the main source of training and weapons for all northeastern rebel groups, R&AW initiated an operation, code named Operation Leech, to assassinate the leaders of the Burmese rebels as an example to other groups.[66] Six top rebel leaders, including military wing chief of National Unity Party of Arakans (NUPA), Khaing Raza, were shot dead and 34 Arakanese guerrillas were arrested and charged with gunrunning.[67]
War on Terror:Although R&AW's contribution to the war on terror is highly classified, the organization gained some attention in the western media after claims that it was assisting the United States by providing intelligence on Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban's whereabouts. Maps and photographs of terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan along with other evidence implicating Osama bin Laden in terrorist attacks, were given to US intelligence officials. R&AW's role in the war on terror may increase as US intelligence has indicated that it sees R&AW as a more reliable ally than Pakistani intelligence. It has further come to light that a timely tip-off by RAW helped foil a third assassination plot against Pakistan's President General Pervez Musharraf[68].
The Himalayan Times: The current operation that RAW in in Nepal is to disintragate Nepal in the name of Free and one Madesh. It started while King Birendra was the king in Nepal. But he became close to China and refused to give royal seal to the Citizenship Bill that led to his and his families massacre. After the Royal massacre in Nepal RAW started a newspaper The Himalayan Times and now it has Annapurna Post also under the APCA. Most of the staff in APCA and The Himalayan Times and Annapurna Post are Nepalese from Darjeeling and Gohati, Assam. 99.99 staff are Indian. So, it will be easy to operate. The current APCA chief is CU Ananda, who is responsible for the operation and information collection from both the newspapers and send to Delhi headquarters. Now, more than 2 million Indian got the citizenship in the name of Madhesh that King Birendra opposed and RAW eliminated his whole family. He was a nationalist King. Due to the Indian companies advertisements Kantipur and The Kathmandu Post are also under RAW influence now. They do not report what the India embassy doesnot want like the other The Himalayan Times and Annapurna Post.
The operation is half success and is undergoing. With the help of Upendra Yadav, Rajendra Mahato, Hridesh Tripathi and Mahanta Thakur, RAW is near its success of disintigrating Nepal and has bagged Karnali and Arun III, in the cover of private companies. India forced to sign Mahakali Treaty some 12 years back but it had nto done anything till date because it only wants to capture the natural resources of Nepal for its bebefit not for Nepal.
[21]After China tested its first nuclear weapons on October 16, 1964, at Lop Nur, Xinjiang, India and USA shared a common fear about the nuclear capabilities of China.[22] Owing to extreme remoteness of Chinese testing grounds and strict secrecy surrounding the Chinese nuclear programme, it was almost impossible to carry out any HUMINT operation. So CIA in late 60s decided to launch an ELINT operation along with R&AW and ARC to track China's nuclear tests and monitor its missile launches. The operation, in the garb of a mountaineering expedition to Nanda Devi involved celebrated Indian climber M S Kohli who along with operatives of Special Frontier Force and CIA most notably Jim Rhyne, a veteran STOL pilot, was to place a permanent ELINT device, a transceiver powered by a plutonium battery, that could detect and report data on future nuclear tests carried out by China[23]. The monitoring device was near successfully implanted on Nanda Devi, however an avalanche forced a hasty withdrawal[24], later a subsequent mountain operation to retrieve or replant the device was aborted when it was found that the device was lost. Recent reports indicate that radiation traces from this device have been discovered in sediment below the mountain[25]. However the actual data is not conclusive. Pakistan's Lt. Gen A. A. K. Niazi signs the instrument of surrender on December 16, surrendering his forces to India's Lt. Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora.Creation of Bangladesh:[26] [27]
the early 1970s the army of Pakistan prosecuted a bloody military crackdown in response to the Bangladesh independence movement.[28][29] Nearly 10 million refugees fled to India. The R&AW's Bangladesh operation began in early 1970 by sowing discord among the disgruntled population of Bangladesh (then called East Pakistan), suffering brutal repression by the Pakistani political establishment. This led to the creation of Mukti Bahini and under its cover R&AW operatives infiltrated into East Pakistan for guerrilla operations, blowing up Pakistani assets to damage the operational mobility of their troops. Mujibur Rahman's Assassination: R&AW operatives claim that they had advance information about Mujib-ur-Rahman's assassination but tragically Sheikh Mujib ignored[2] R&AW's inputs and was killed along with 40 members of his family. R&AW thus failed to prevent the assassination which led to the loss of a charismatic leader who had a soft corner for India after all they had done for his countries' independence. However recently R&AW has successfully thwarted plans of assassinating Sheikh Hasina Wazed, daughter of Mujibur Rahman, by Islamist extremist, LTTE and ISI[30].
Operation Smiling Buddha: Operation Smiling Buddha was the name given India's nuclear programme. The task to keep it under tight wraps of security was given to R&AW.[31] This was the first time that R&AW was involved in a project inside India. On 18 May 1974 India detonated a 15-kiloton plutonium device at Pokhran and became a member of the nuclear club.
Amalgamation of Sikkim: Bodered by Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and West Bengal in the Eastern Himalayas Sikkim was ruled by a Maharaja. The Indian Government had recognized the title of Chogyal (Dharma Raja) for the Mahraja of Sikkim. In 1972 R&AW was authorized to install a pro-Indian democratic government there. In less than three years Sikkim became the 22nd State of the Indian Union, on April 26, 1975. Kahuta's Blueprint:[32] [33] Ordinance Blueprint,Khan Research Laboratories, A.Q. Khan Laboratories, Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL), Kahuta, Pakistan 33°39'11"N 73°15'33"E.
Kahuta is the site of the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), Pakistan's main nuclear weapons laboratory as well as an emerging center for long-range missile development. The primary Pakistani fissile-material production facility is located at Kahuta, employing gas centrifuge enrichment technology to produce Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU). R&AW agents claim that in early 1978[34], they were on the verge of obtaining the plans and blueprint for Kahuta Research Laboratories that was built to counter the Pokhran atomic blast, but the then Indian Prime Minister Morarji Desai not only refused to sanction the $ 10,000 demanded by the R&AW agent, but informed Pakistan of the offer[35]. According to conflicting reports, Pakistanis caught and eliminated the R&AW mole.
Special Operations:In the mid 1980s RAW set up two covert groups, Counterintelligence Team-X(CIT-X) and Counterintelligence Team-J(CIT-J), the first directed at Pakistan and the second at Khalistani groups. Rabinder Singh, the R&AW double agent who defected to the United States in 2004, helped run CIT-J in its early years. Both these covert groups used the services of cross-border traffickers to ferry weapons and funds across the border, much as their ISI counterparts were doing. According to former R&AW official and security analyst B. Raman, the Indian counter-campaign yielded results. "The role of our cover action capability in putting an end to the ISI's interference in Punjab", he wrote in 2002, "by making such interference prohibitively costly is little known and understood." These covert operations were discontinued during the tenure of IK Gujral.[36]
Kanishka Bombing case:[37][38][39] On 23 June 1985 Air India's Flight 182 was blown up near Ireland and 329 innocent lives were lost. On the same day another explosion took place at Tokyo's Narita airport's transit baggage building where baggage was being transferred from Cathay Pacific Flight No CP 003 to Air India Flight 301 which was scheduled for Bangkok. Both aircraft were loaded with explosives from Canadian airports. Flight 301 got saved because of a delay in its departure. This was considered as a major set back to R&AW for failing to gather enough intelligence about the khalistani terrorists[40].[41]
Operation Cactus:[42] In November 1988, the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), composed of about 200 Tamil secessionist rebels, invaded Maldives. At the request of the president of Maldives, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Indian armed forces, with assistance from R&AW, launched a military campaign to throw the mercenaries out of Maldives. On the night of November 3, 1988, the Indian Air Force airlifted 6th parachute battalion of the Parachute Regiment from Agra and flew them over 2,000 km (1,240 mi) to Maldives. The Indian paratroopers landed at Hulule and restored the government rule at Malé within hours. The operation, labelled Operation Cactus, also involved the Indian Navy. Swift operation by the military and precise intelligence information quelled the insurgency.
SriLanka:[43] [44]. R&AW started training the LTTE to keep a check on Sri Lanka, which had helped Pakistan in the Indo-Pak War by allowing Pakistani ships to refuel at Sri Lankan ports, but LTTE created lot of problems and complications and then Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi was forced to send Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to restore normalcy in the region. The disastrous mission of Indian Peace Keeping Forces (IPKF) was blamed by many on the lack of coordination between the IPKF and R&AW. Its most disastrous manifestation was the Heliborne assault on LTTE HQ in the Jaffna University campus in the opening stages of Operation Pawan. The site was chosen without any consultation with the R&AW. The dropping paratroopers became easy targets for the LTTE. A number of soldiers were killed. The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi is also blamed as a fallout of the failed R&AW operation in Sri Lanka. [45].
Operation Chanakya:[46] A Pakistan magazine Herald published a cover story on the terrorist training camps in Pakistan, which was training Kashmiri and Afghan militants. A follow up story by Dawn newspaper confirmed its existence.[47]This was the R&AW operation in the disputed Kashmir region to infiltrate various ISI-backed Kashmiri terrorist groups and restore peace in the Kashmir valley. R&AW operatives infiltrated the area, collected military intelligence, and provided evidence about ISI's involvement in training and funding Kashmiri terrorist groups [48][49]. R&AW was successful not only in unearthing the links between the ISI and the terrorist groups, and also in infiltrating and neutralizing the militancy in the Kashmir valley.[50][51][52] Operation Chanakya also marked the creation of pro-Indian groups in Kashmir like the Ikhwan-ul-Muslimeen, Musleem Mujahideen etc. These counter-insurgencies consist of ex-militants and relatives of those slain in the conflict. Ikhwan-ul-Muslimeen leader Kokka Parrey was himself assassinated by terrorists.
Disturbances in Pakistan:[53] The Pakistani government claims that dissent among the Balochis, tribals in the North-West Frontier Province, Waziristan, Northern Areas and rural sindhi population is due to R&AW's interventions[54]. Pakistan also claims that R&AW has established its training camps in Afghanistan in collaboration with the Northern Alliance in a bid to destabilise the region, as a retaliation for Pakistan's involvement in Kashmir.[55] It is also claimed by Pakistani authorities that approximately 600 ferraris (Baloch tribal dissidents) and members of Islamic Emirate of Waziristan were trained to handle explosives and use sophisticated weapons in these camps.[56] While Pakistan has long complained of India-engineered terrorism on its soil, there is so far no reputable open-source account of either its scale or its course and the Indian government has steadfastly denied any involvement in the Baloch-NWFP problem.
Kargil War: R&AW was heavily criticized in 1999, following the Pakistani incursions at Kargil. Critics accused R&AW of failing to provide intelligence that could have prevented the ensuing ten-week conflict that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of full-scale war. While the army has been critical of the lack of information they received,[57] R&AW has pointed the finger at the politicians, claiming they had provided all the necessary information. Most Indian officials believe that in order to prevent another such occurrence, communication needs to be increased between the intelligence agencies, which would require structural reform.
Help to Northern alliance: After the rise of Pakistan backed Taliban in Afghanistan, India decided to side with the Northern Alliance. This relationship was further cemented in the 2001 Afgan war.[58] By 1996 R&AW had built a 25 bed military hospital[59] at the Farkhor Air Base[60], this airport was used by Aviation Research Centre, the reconnaissance arm of R&AW, to repair and operate Northern Alliance's aerial support. India also supplied the Northern Alliance high altitude warfare equipment worth around $8-10 million[61][62]. A handful of Indian defence advisers who reportedly included an officer in the rank of Brigadier, were based in Tajikistan to advise the Northern Alliane in operations against the Taliban[63]. R&AW was the first intelligence agency to determine the extent of Kunduz airlift.[64]
Operation Leech: Surrounded by Arakans and dense forest Myanmar had always been a worrisome point for Indian intelligence. As the major player in the area India always sought to promote democracy and install friendly governments in the region. To these ends, R&AW cultivated Burmese rebel groups and pro-democracy coalitions, especially the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) [65]. India allowed KIA to carry a limited trade in jade and precious stones using Indian territory and even supplied them weapons. It is further alleged that KIA chief Maran Brangsein met the R&AW chief in Delhi twice. However when KIA became the main source of training and weapons for all northeastern rebel groups, R&AW initiated an operation, code named Operation Leech, to assassinate the leaders of the Burmese rebels as an example to other groups.[66] Six top rebel leaders, including military wing chief of National Unity Party of Arakans (NUPA), Khaing Raza, were shot dead and 34 Arakanese guerrillas were arrested and charged with gunrunning.[67]
War on Terror:Although R&AW's contribution to the war on terror is highly classified, the organization gained some attention in the western media after claims that it was assisting the United States by providing intelligence on Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban's whereabouts. Maps and photographs of terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan along with other evidence implicating Osama bin Laden in terrorist attacks, were given to US intelligence officials. R&AW's role in the war on terror may increase as US intelligence has indicated that it sees R&AW as a more reliable ally than Pakistani intelligence. It has further come to light that a timely tip-off by RAW helped foil a third assassination plot against Pakistan's President General Pervez Musharraf[68].
The Himalayan Times: The current operation that RAW in in Nepal is to disintragate Nepal in the name of Free and one Madesh. It started while King Birendra was the king in Nepal. But he became close to China and refused to give royal seal to the Citizenship Bill that led to his and his families massacre. After the Royal massacre in Nepal RAW started a newspaper The Himalayan Times and now it has Annapurna Post also under the APCA. Most of the staff in APCA and The Himalayan Times and Annapurna Post are Nepalese from Darjeeling and Gohati, Assam. 99.99 staff are Indian. So, it will be easy to operate. The current APCA chief is CU Ananda, who is responsible for the operation and information collection from both the newspapers and send to Delhi headquarters. Now, more than 2 million Indian got the citizenship in the name of Madhesh that King Birendra opposed and RAW eliminated his whole family. He was a nationalist King. Due to the Indian companies advertisements Kantipur and The Kathmandu Post are also under RAW influence now. They do not report what the India embassy doesnot want like the other The Himalayan Times and Annapurna Post.
The operation is half success and is undergoing. With the help of Upendra Yadav, Rajendra Mahato, Hridesh Tripathi and Mahanta Thakur, RAW is near its success of disintigrating Nepal and has bagged Karnali and Arun III, in the cover of private companies. India forced to sign Mahakali Treaty some 12 years back but it had nto done anything till date because it only wants to capture the natural resources of Nepal for its bebefit not for Nepal.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Donation, Death and Doctor
Here are two donations made by India to Nepa. One on 17 January by bombing a passenger-filled bus killing at lease three people inside it alive. And second on Republic Day of India, on 26 January. Duel role of India as a doctor and butcher both.
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Indo-Nepal security meet
The Nepal-India security meeting ended inconclusive Wednesday after the Indian side allegedly raised 'serious issues' beyond the agenda of the three-day meeting in New Delhi.
According to a source, the Nepali delegation expressed reservations over signing the minutes as the issues raised by the Indian side were against the long-term interests of Nepal.
The source, however, did not want to divulge details of what transpired at the meeting of the Nepal-India Bilateral Consultation Group on Security Issues. "The Indian side tried to bring in issues other than those of the meeting. We could not agree to them due to technical reasons," said Joint Secretary at the Foreign Ministry, who led the 14-member Nepali delegation. "The meeting could not reach any agreement. We did not sign the minutes."
The source said that India had expressed willingness to provide necessary support to the Nepali Army, but complained over the use made of support extended in the past. The meeting had reviewed the additional support required by NA.
"The meeting mainly reviewed the support they extended NA. The Indian side presented itself on that [issue] in a traditional fashion, which we could not feel comfortable with," the source added.
The meeting discussed sharing of intelligence reports (?), increasing training quotas and providing logistics support including jeeps, ambulances and Braille bridges for NA. Likewise, there were detailed discussions over curbing crossborder crime and human trafficking, besides providing of construction material for work being carried out by NA.
However, during his recent India visit, Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) Rookmangud Katawal had asked the Indians to resume military support which was suspended after the royal takeover in February 2005. But Indian has refused saying, "Arms and ammunition cannot be given due to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. There was discussion only on non-lethal support," said an Indian official who participated in the meeting.
The source, however, did not want to divulge details of what transpired at the meeting of the Nepal-India Bilateral Consultation Group on Security Issues. "The Indian side tried to bring in issues other than those of the meeting. We could not agree to them due to technical reasons," said Joint Secretary at the Foreign Ministry, who led the 14-member Nepali delegation. "The meeting could not reach any agreement. We did not sign the minutes."
The source said that India had expressed willingness to provide necessary support to the Nepali Army, but complained over the use made of support extended in the past. The meeting had reviewed the additional support required by NA.
"The meeting mainly reviewed the support they extended NA. The Indian side presented itself on that [issue] in a traditional fashion, which we could not feel comfortable with," the source added.
The meeting discussed sharing of intelligence reports (?), increasing training quotas and providing logistics support including jeeps, ambulances and Braille bridges for NA. Likewise, there were detailed discussions over curbing crossborder crime and human trafficking, besides providing of construction material for work being carried out by NA.
However, during his recent India visit, Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) Rookmangud Katawal had asked the Indians to resume military support which was suspended after the royal takeover in February 2005. But Indian has refused saying, "Arms and ammunition cannot be given due to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. There was discussion only on non-lethal support," said an Indian official who participated in the meeting.
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In what could be seen as an all-out effort to dominate the ruling seven party alliance in Terai region with the help directly and indirectly by India, ahead of CA election, various armed as well as unarmed Madhesi groups have reached an understanding of cooperation.
The groups, reached a 23-point agreement at an undisclosed location (meaning Indian cities).
They agreed not to abduct or demand extortion from people of Madhesi origin. They have also agreed to carry out their agitations jointly and kill Pahade.
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The groups, reached a 23-point agreement at an undisclosed location (meaning Indian cities).
They agreed not to abduct or demand extortion from people of Madhesi origin. They have also agreed to carry out their agitations jointly and kill Pahade.
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The talks between the government and the Terai-Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP) that was supposed to take place on Friday has been put off. The dialogue was put off indefinitely after TMDP Chairman Mahantha Thakur did not respond to the government’s formal invitation. Because they are not concerned about the rights of Madheshi, they want to destablise Nepal so India always get upper hand in bargaining Karnali like Koshi and Gandadi. Thakur is a stooge only.
Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Ram Chandra Poudel had informed that he had sent a letter to the party chairman on January 21.
Earlier, the government had informed that there was an initial agreement to hold dialogue with the TMDP this afternoon at the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction.
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Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Ram Chandra Poudel had informed that he had sent a letter to the party chairman on January 21.
Earlier, the government had informed that there was an initial agreement to hold dialogue with the TMDP this afternoon at the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction.
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India donated 1,200 four-wheel drive vehicles and 14,000 sets of communication equipment to Nepal. But it wants NOC to pay IOC the heavy price of oil.
Indian envoy to Nepal Shiv Shankar Mukherjee, who has been actively distributing money and logistic support to the Madhesi murderers, handed over the vehicles and communication equipment to Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula during a function organised at the Indian Embassy on Friday.
Indian envoy to Nepal Shiv Shankar Mukherjee, who has been actively distributing money and logistic support to the Madhesi murderers, handed over the vehicles and communication equipment to Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula during a function organised at the Indian Embassy on Friday.
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GMR Energy Limited of India has bagged the 300 MW strong Upper Karnali hydropower project. This project willnot benefit Nepal as it is yet another Koshi and Gandagi like agreement. And indian soldier can now enter Nepal in the name of security of this hydro project.
The company signed an agreement with the government, on Thursday, to complete the project within four and a half years.
The GMR company has agreed to provide 12 percent of free energy and 27 percent of share to the government. According to earlier estimates by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the cost of building Upper Karnali project is around $ 468.6 million.
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The company signed an agreement with the government, on Thursday, to complete the project within four and a half years.
The GMR company has agreed to provide 12 percent of free energy and 27 percent of share to the government. According to earlier estimates by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the cost of building Upper Karnali project is around $ 468.6 million.
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A government team led by joint secretary at the Water Resource Ministry Anup Kumar Upadhyaya had negotiated with the company. Can they publish all the details in every newspapers? Are they transparent?
The same team will soon hold negotiation with another Indian company called Sutlej regarding the construction of Arun III project.
The same team will soon hold negotiation with another Indian company called Sutlej regarding the construction of Arun III project.
When World bank wanted to construct Arun III, many UML-cadres' NGOs were against. Now, where are these comrades?
Friday, January 25, 2008
How RAW is damaging Nepal's image?
This is a piece of news from RAW propaganda machine called The Himalayan Times published by Indian embassy in Kathmandu. Most of the reporters and the employees of the newspaper are Indians from Darjeling, Sikkim and Kharsang and many other cities of India or paid by the RAW in Kathmandu. It is said that in the editorial
meeting RAW agents from Indian embassy direct what to be printed tomorrow, the example of today's newspape's news piece. The agitation of the petroleum price hike was led by the seven students union and every other newspaper reported that.
But the news in The Himalayan Times front page, in second line accuse them as hooligans. It is alo one example of how Nepali reporters are briefed to write the news? How can a reporter accuse seven students unions as hooligans?
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Tourism took a beating as city burnt
Prakriti Prasad
Entrepreneurs worried about an encore
Kathmandu, January 24:The country returned to normalcy today.But the last two days of chaos when hooligans besieged the city — burning tyres, vandalising vehicles and manhandling people — will be hard to forget for tourists who landed here to get a feel of “Naturally Nepal”. nsecurity ......
Monday, January 7, 2008
‘We could regain Greater Nepal’
Buddhi Narayan Shrestha, a former director general of the Department of Survey, is probably the most distinguished survey research scholar of Nepal’s international boundaries. He has been working in the field of surveying and mapping for the last 41 years. Shrestha has authored several books on the Nepal-India border demarcation and management. He was trained and educated in surveying and land-use mapping in India, Canada, Germany and Japan.
Shrestha, who was awarded the coveted Madan Prize 2057 for his book Boundary of Nepal, spoke to Kamal Raj Sigdel of The Kathmandu Post on the current Indo-Nepal border dispute. He says India has encroached on almost 60,000 hectares of Nepali territory over the last 72 years.
Shrestha, who was awarded the coveted Madan Prize 2057 for his book Boundary of Nepal, spoke to Kamal Raj Sigdel of The Kathmandu Post on the current Indo-Nepal border dispute. He says India has encroached on almost 60,000 hectares of Nepali territory over the last 72 years.
Excerpts:
Q: You have been a vocal critic of Indian encroachment on Nepali territory for a long time. What actually is the Nepal-India border dispute?
Shrestha: There are a number of reasons that trigger rows over the border – no clear demarcation pillars, lack of historical documents, unclear points/articles in the border treaties, frontiers based on changeable river courses, one country considering itself superior to the other and the like. Nepal has been having arguments over the border with India for a long time. On March 4, 1816, Nepal and the East India Company signed the Treaty of Sugauli. That was expected to resolve the border disputes, but it did not. For instance, right after the signing of the treaty, the East India Company claimed Antu Danda of Ilam and handed it over to Sikkim. However, Nepal managed to get it back in 1838. The border problems remained after India became independent in 1947. In fact, they intensified as India’s population increased rapidly and Indian settlers began clearing Nepal’s forests in the tarai and settling down there. And now in 2007, when loktantra has been established in Nepal, the disputes still exist.
Q: Mainly, which parts of Nepal have been encroached on?
Shrestha: There is a 1,808-kilometer-long border between Nepal and India, and 26 districts of Nepal adjoin Indian territory. In my estimation, there are 54 places in 21 districts involving 60,000 hectares of land where we have border disputes, conflicts, encroachment claims and counterclaims ranging from the smallest one of 2 hectares in Sandakpur to the largest one of 37,000 hectares in Kalapani. Some of the others are Susta (14,000 hectares), Mechi (1,600 hectares) and Parasan (450 hectares).
Q: Does the government recognize the fact that there are 54 border disputes that you just mentioned?
Shrestha: A meeting of the 31st Nepal-India Joint Technical Level Boundary Committee held in Delhi is supposed to have completed 98 percent of the task of strip-mapping the border. So, according to the government, all the disputes, except Susta and Kalapani, have been resolved. But making maps is not everything. The maps may be correct, but when we trace the border in the field, we find instances of encroachment. What is the use of the maps if the Nepalis cannot use their land?
Q: How was Kalapani encroached upon? And what is the dispute about?
Shrestha: In 1962, there was a fierce war between India and China which India lost. After the fighting stopped, the Chinese Army retreated to its original border. The Indian Army looked around and found Kalapani to be a strategically advantageous point. There is a 20,276-foot-high hill which they thought could be useful as a stronghold from where to fend off the Chinese Army. At a meeting of the technical committee, Nepal had proposed to resolve the Kalapani dispute using the maps of 1850 and 1856 as the basis. But India wanted to use the map of 1879. Since the Indian map was irrelevant to Nepal, it rejected the proposal. What is interesting is that Kalapani is shown to be on Nepali territory on the maps submitted by Nepal and on Indian territory on Indian maps. In the map taken as the base document by Nepal, the Kalee River is shown as the frontier. The facts have been distorted on Indian maps, and the river has been renamed as the Kuti Yangti River. As India has changed the name of the river, the dispute remains unresolved.
Q: What is the Susta border dispute about?
Shrestha: In the Susta area, India has encroached on about 14,000 hectares of land over a period of 72 years. The intrusion happened in stages, the latest being on November 22, 2007.
Q: What do you think are the reasons behind the arguments over the border with India?
Shrestha: The main reason is that 595 kilometers of the 1,808-kilometer-long Nepal-India border is defined by rivers—such as the Mechi in the east, Mahakali in the west, and the Narayani in the Susta area, which demarcates a 24-kilometer stretch of the international frontier. The rivers keep changing course and that gives rise to arguments.
Q: Are there any special reasons behind the encroachment in Susta? What do the Indians have to say?
Shrestha: There are five major reasons behind the Susta border dispute – natural, technical, social, political and governmental. The natural reason is flooding. The Narayani River changed its course after the floods of 1845, 1954, 1980 and 1989, and the Indians argued that the reclaimed land was theirs. Another natural cause is that Susta is surrounded on three sides—north, south and east—by Indian territory, and on the west you have the Narayani River. So, Susta is cut off from Nepal which makes it easier for the Indians to move in and occupy it. The technical reason is that no Junge pillar has been erected along the 24-km riverian border, perhaps because the river was considered to be a natural boundary at that time. The social reason is that the population gradually increased on the Indian side adjoining Susta, and the Indian Special Services Bureau helped them to encroach on Nepali territory. Besides, when the Gandak Barrage at Bhaisalotan was completed, nearly 250 laborers that came to work on the construction project did not return but settled in the Susta area. They outnumbered the Nepalis and they encroached on more land. The political cause is that the BJP in Bihar encouraged local Biharis to intrude into Nepali territory under the condition that they vote for the party in return. They also have the backing of the Indian government as is proven by the fact that the SSB has been supporting the locals in their landgrab. The SSB has been torturing Nepalis frequently. But the presence of the Government of Nepal has not been felt.
Q: Are the government’s efforts to resolve the disputes adequate?
Shrestha: Nepal has not acted as it should have. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had released a statement saying that, except for Kalapani and Susta, all the border issues had been resolved. But there are other places where encroachment has happened. Of late, however, the government is gradually becoming more aware. Parliament is also taking this issue seriously. Parliamentarian Kunta Sharma returned from a visit to the Susta area and claimed that Nepali lands had been occupied. The parliamentary foreign relations committee is also keeping a close watch. Various MPs have been raising the subject in Parliament. Even the Prime Minister has expressed his commitment to look into it seriously. So the matter has now reached the highest level. I think that if the PM were to pursue it seriously, it can be resolved. The problem is that our leaders fear raising the border issue with India because they think that it will make their chairs shake. Foreign Minister Sahana Pradhan talked to her Indian counterpart Pranav Mukherjee on December 7. Mukherjee said that the status quo should be maintained. But what does that mean? That is not the solution. Now that the issue has reached the Foreign Minster’s level, it should be taken to the PM’s level too. The PM should look into it because the border is a serious national issue. If one square kilometer of our land is lost, the Nepali nationals living on it will be turned into aliens. Those responsible for losing Nepali territory should be punished for being traitors. Our head of state should not be afraid of talking to his Indian counterpart for the integrity of our national boundary. He should work fearlessly.
Q: Some border experts speak of a Greater Nepal that includes the territory Nepal gave up with the Sugauli Treaty. Is it possible?
Shrestha: There is a concept of “Greater Nepal” which extends from Tista in the east to Kangra in the west. If Nepal were to become prosperous and powerful like China, Nepal’s future generations could get back the lost territory, which is one-third of the area of Greater Nepal. As China got back Hong Kong from the British, so can Nepal get back its lost territory that was lost with the Sugauli Treaty. Such historical facts should be passed on to our future generations. What is important is that we should not forget our history and the historical facts. The land we lost to the East India Company should not belong to India. It is ours. The 1950 Treaty, too, says that “the Treaty cancels all previous treaties, agreements and engagements entered into on behalf of India between the British Government and the Government of Nepal”. This means that Nepal should regain its lost territory because the 1950 Treaty has nullified the Sugauli Treaty. But the reality is that the 1950 Treaty has not been implemented fully.
Posted on: 2008-01-06 22:23:47 (Server Time) The Kathmandu Post Daily
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