The Pakistani Spectator

The arrest of Ms Madhuri Gupta on leaking sensitive information to adversaries has exposed India’s passion to destabilize Pakistan. India, during the last 62 years failed to divert Pakistanis strive to remain united under Islamic ideology. To achieve this objective India is trying to culturally invade Pakistan and its neighbourhood. This conspiracy against common enemy has brought many of the India’s adversaries quite close to her. After September 2001 attacks on US, India is also joined by US and Israel to bring Indian culture in Pakistan and Afghanistan by introducing attractive mystic and Sufi themes. As a good gesture to achieve this common objective, New Delhi is sharing its classified information with these countries.  In fact, India is doing a great blunder by allowing access to western agencies to its Computer Filing Systems (CFS). It hardly matters if the utilization is for Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) or joint operation against adversaries. It is pertinent to mention here that Indian Military, Air Force and Para Military Forces (PMF) purchased various networks including ‘Thin Client’ and ‘Info Net Systems’ from the western countries in the last few years, however, all the communication emitting from the systems are being monitored from a number of remote locations.

A wise step has been taken by the Indian authorities during Unified Commanders’ Conference for setting up Crisis Management Cell (CMC) to counter cyber terrorism. An important thing that was missing in the conference was that more stress was given to hacking and other cyber crimes but pilferage and leakage of information by the own personnel deputed on the systems have been ignored. Cyber security policy cannot be implemented unless those who are behind the systems are loyal to the organization. There is no doubt that India is playing an important role in US Cyber Command but lately New Delhi has felt to have its own independent setup too. The embarrassment created by the leakage of top classified documents of Indian Armed Forces, Indian Ministry of Defence and other ministries by certain retired and serving officers including RAW agents posted abroad is a challenge for Indian security agencies.

India’s former High Commissioner to Pakistan, K.D. Sharma, who served in Pakistan in 1980s, was found dead in his house in New Delhi after few weeks of visit and investigations by Indian Intelligence personnel. In a recent incident, Ms Madhuri Gupta, 53-year-old Indian RAW agent who was serving as second secretary-in Indian High Commission, Islamabad was arrested from her house in East Delhi for alleged passing on information to foreign intelligence agencies in Islamabad. Indian authorities have officially accepted that India is using RAW in diplomatic cover inside Pakistan thus it violated the Geneva Conventions. As per the details, India Intelligence Bureau (IB) Surveillance Inspectors reported against her for meeting some Pakistanis holding American nationalities. What were further ingredients of the report has not yet been disclosed. However, Indian Ministry of External Affairs Ministry had summoned both Ms Gupta and RAW’s station head in Islamabad, R. K. Sharma to clarify their positions, after which Ms Gupta was handed over to the Police. Ms Gupta’s links with two Pakistani journalists and her contacts with them through various e-mails addresses is also being probed but so far nothing has been found other than her visit to Indian held Jammu and Kashmir in end March this year. That is not all, last month a number of Indian military and RAW officers were charge sheeted on the same account. A month earlier former RAW chief was convicted for leaking top secret information.

The activities of Ms Madhuri Gupta in Pakistan and her links with Pakistani journalists were official assignments by RAW bosses in New Delhi and Jammu. The Pakistani journalists who developed intimacy with Ms Gupta never attended Indian functions at their own but were always official guests of Indian High Commissioners at various functions. In fact Ms Gupta and her desk in Islamabad cover media and religious affairs. She had an assignment to motivate Pakistani journalists and other officials to prepare grounds for Sufi culture invasion in Pakistan, in order to discourage orthodox Islam in the society.  One wonders, if this had not been case, why during her M.Phil she got herself involved in studies regarding Islam and Sufism? In fact it is a plot to pollute mind of Pakistanis with Indian originated Sufi thoughts. RAW believes that Islamabad would start considering Ms Gupta as hero and Pakistani media could thus be influenced. Despite these facts, still there is every possibility that Ms Gupta had been leaking classified information to US agents. India, despite the technical advancements, is facing serious problems of security of information and material. The basic flaw is right at the grass roots level. Since the higher officials in Indian ministries and other institutions openly discuss and shares information with adversaries including Washington, the lower ladders also feel no harm in following the foot step of their bosses. India cannot come out of this information leakage business unless a uniform standard is adopted for the procurement of equipment and sharing of information. If rules and policies are made on daily basis no one can save India from further blunders.  In a nut shell, New Delhi should learn from its past mistake and come out of sharing of information against Pakistan business. In the name of its joint campaign against Pakistan by RAW, CIA and Mossad, no one knows how much damage the Intelligence personnel have cause to the sovereignty of the country and that is their anything really left to be secured.