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The Defence Minister of India, Shri Manohar Parriker made a statement recently in which he alluded to "deep assets" which had been built up over 20 or so years which had been compromised. The Congress Party went to town condemning this statement and even accused the Hon'ble Minster of being irresponsible. The statement has to be viewed in the context of the recent interception on the high seas of a boat which has been identified as a boat whose mission was to deliver a consignment of arms and explosives to a module of the Indian Mujahideen in Gujarat. The boat was intercepted as the radio exchanges were monitored over a period of 2 to 3 days and when confronted by the Coast Guard, the boat and its crew chose to detonate explosives and destroy the boat, cargo and the men on board. It is clear from the intercepts that nearly 50 lakhs were being paid to each of the men on board and this certainly makes it a high risk venture. It is against this background that Manohar Parikker made his forthright remarks.
Unlike USA, Israel or even Pakistan India has not been able to create an efficient Intelligence Agency. The recent disclosures made by R K Yadava in his Mission R&W make shocking reading: we have as R K Yadava points out an intelligence agency which is badly organized, working at cross purposes with other agencies like the IB and worse full of men who are eager to be recruited as double agents. Worse nearly 6 men have defected to USA and India has not been able to bring them to book. When the country's leading Intelligence Agency is facing a crisis of this magnitude, the statement by the Defence Minister has to be taken seriously. There is no scope for bravado.
When I K Gujral became the Prime Minster after the dismissal of Deve Gowda, the new Prime Minster unleashed volley of measures which virtually disbanded the operational capability of the R&W in Pakistan. He wrongly believed, perhaps because he was born in Pakistan, that it would be possible to have peace with Pakistan. With this false ideological and emotional motive, Gujral systematically degraded Indian intelligence assets in Pakistan. A top secret unit called CITX was disbanded and all the operatives recalled to India. India lost its ability to monitor the movement of military units and the deployment of troops. It had even penetrated the middle level of the Pakistani military establishment when Inder Kumar Gujral brought the whole process down.
As irony would have it I K Gural was saved from assassination by the very R&AW that he chose to attack.
What Parikker has said is true and there is no point in making a political issue of it.
The Defence Minister of India, Shri Manohar Parriker made a statement recently in which he alluded to "deep assets" which had been built up over 20 or so years which had been compromised. The Congress Party went to town condemning this statement and even accused the Hon'ble Minster of being irresponsible. The statement has to be viewed in the context of the recent interception on the high seas of a boat which has been identified as a boat whose mission was to deliver a consignment of arms and explosives to a module of the Indian Mujahideen in Gujarat. The boat was intercepted as the radio exchanges were monitored over a period of 2 to 3 days and when confronted by the Coast Guard, the boat and its crew chose to detonate explosives and destroy the boat, cargo and the men on board. It is clear from the intercepts that nearly 50 lakhs were being paid to each of the men on board and this certainly makes it a high risk venture. It is against this background that Manohar Parikker made his forthright remarks.
Unlike USA, Israel or even Pakistan India has not been able to create an efficient Intelligence Agency. The recent disclosures made by R K Yadava in his Mission R&W make shocking reading: we have as R K Yadava points out an intelligence agency which is badly organized, working at cross purposes with other agencies like the IB and worse full of men who are eager to be recruited as double agents. Worse nearly 6 men have defected to USA and India has not been able to bring them to book. When the country's leading Intelligence Agency is facing a crisis of this magnitude, the statement by the Defence Minister has to be taken seriously. There is no scope for bravado.
When I K Gujral became the Prime Minster after the dismissal of Deve Gowda, the new Prime Minster unleashed volley of measures which virtually disbanded the operational capability of the R&W in Pakistan. He wrongly believed, perhaps because he was born in Pakistan, that it would be possible to have peace with Pakistan. With this false ideological and emotional motive, Gujral systematically degraded Indian intelligence assets in Pakistan. A top secret unit called CITX was disbanded and all the operatives recalled to India. India lost its ability to monitor the movement of military units and the deployment of troops. It had even penetrated the middle level of the Pakistani military establishment when Inder Kumar Gujral brought the whole process down.
As irony would have it I K Gural was saved from assassination by the very R&AW that he chose to attack.
What Parikker has said is true and there is no point in making a political issue of it.
