Fulcrum of Evil; ISI-CIA-AI Qaeda Nexus: Maloy Krishna Dhar; Manas Publications, Delhi; pp 402; Rs 795.00 WE are living in dangerous times; we are surrounded by countries which are not particularly friendly towards us, their pretensions otherwise notwithstanding. There is so much going on behind our backs that we are not even aware of. For reasons best known to our government in Delhi, such intelligence as our agencies involved in the work are able to collect remain secret, obviously under instructions of the powers-that-be. It is only when something like the attack on Akshardham occurs that public opinion gets aroused. But such arousal dies down in no times and the public remains as ignorant as ever about what our neighbours?particularly Pakistan?are up to.
It is only when some one like Maloy Krishna Dhar dares to open the can of worms that the reading public gets a little more enlightened about the evil in our midst. Dhar is not one that Indian citizens can afford to ignore. In the first place he has been in the intelligence gathering business for a longtime. In fact he retired as Joint Director, Intelligence Bureau Government of India. In the circumstances we just cannot afford to ignore what he has to say about the living and growing nexus between the American Intelligence Agency, the CIA, the Visions Pakistan Intelligence Agency, the ISI, and the Middle Fulcrum represented by Royal Saudi Intelligence and allied religious and NGO props floated by the Wahabi House of Saud for exporting Islamic jehad throughout the world. Is this an exaggeration?
Says Dhar: ?The ISI is not an exclusive nightmare for India; it has emerged as a global force that has distinctively collaborated with the Al Qaeda al Sulbah and other sub-nationalist and transnational Islamic Jehadist forces…It is far more sinister than our film fans can imagine.? Is this a casual remark intended to frighten people? Not at all.
Dhar claims that Pakistan has exploited the services of the Bangladesh Intelligence and Security Agencies in mounting operations against India. It is not that Dhar makes generalised statements. His credibility lies in the fact that he names and gives intimate details of their activities that are unchallengeable. The anti-Indian proclivities of the Bangladeshi Intelligence were in recent years fortified by the re-emergence of Jamait-e-Islami, its student wins Islamic Chhatra Shibir and Tabligh-i-Jammat.
Dhar provides a tremendous amount of material to make his point and it is an uncaring public that will dismiss his findings as of no consequence. This book consists of twenty two chapters, each well-researched and full of information. Of particular interest to all Indians concerned with national security are chapters on the ISI'sintervention in India, its mission-based operations, its interference in Punjab and Kashmir, its role in the Post-Blue Star years, its efforts to encircle India with bases in Nepal and Bangladesh and its efforts to inveigle Indian Muslims to help destroy the essential unity of the country. It is no secret that during the turbulent days of Sikh separatism between 1988 and 1993, the ISI pumped in weapons to India through Punjab, Jammu, Rajasthan and Gujarat land orders. But the steadiest flow of weapons came through the Nepal border, mainly through a mafia gang controlled by one Mirza Dilshad Beg and his associates in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Dhar not only mentions the names of individuals but the names also of banks which were serving as conduits to traitors in India of money from foreign sources.
Dhar believes that among involved criminals and traitors is Dawood Ibrahim who reportedly owns a major cable network in Nepal which is used as a cover for ISI and mafia activities. It is bad enough that Nepal should serve as a breeding ground for anti-India activities. What is?and should be?more disturbing is the role played by Bangladesh in trying to hit India below the belt as and when it is possible. According to Dhar, ?even after restoration of democracy, Bangladesh reflects the mirror image of Pakistan'sIslamised society and its jehadi tanzeems.? Dhar claims that Pakistan has exploited the services of the Bangladesh Intelligence and Security Agencies in mounting operations against India. It is not that Dhar makes generalised statements. His credibility lies in the fact that he names and gives intimate details of their activities that are unchallengeable. The anti-Indian proclivities of the Bangladeshi Intelligence were in recent years fortified by the re-emergence of Jamait-e-Islami, its student wins Islamic Chhatra Shibir and Tabligh-i-Jammat.
To understand the Bangladesh-based thrust of the ISI and the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) it is necessary to understand the near-complete capture of Bangla society by pro-Pakistani jehadis. It would appear that an officer of the rank of Brigadier maingains liaison with the ISI. Also named are other Bangladeshi oraganisa-tions with close links with the ISI such as Bangla bhai, Jagrata Muslim Janata, Ahl-e-Hadith and Jamait-ul-Mujhahideen. The information provided by Dhar is frightening. It would seem that the Bangladeshi jehadis are receiving specialised training in Pakistan.
What is more they have been raising enormous amounts of money to finance their dangerous activities aimed at India. Dhar quotes Prof Abul Barqat of the Department of Economics and General Secretary of the Economic Policy Committee of Dhaka University as saying that the jehadi elements and fundamentalist organisation raise on an average a profit of l,200 crore takas every year which they spend on recruiting cadres for their criminal anti-India activities. But what is even more disturbing is Dhar'saccount of how the ISI has been bolstering up Muslim militancy in India.
Among the steps that the ISI has so far taken include: (a) encouraging existing religious tanzeems and frontal representative bodies and NGOs to float organisations for preaching and promoting militant ideologies (b) providing arms training to selected bands of Indian Muslim youths connected to student bodies for carrying out armed jehadi activities (c) helping to form ?self defence? and ?jehadi modules? and cells in vulnerable Muslim dominated areas (d) imparting training to selected Muslim youth in the use of weapons and explosives, etc. Dhar goes to the extent of naming seventeen Pakistani institutions ?reported to have been involved in training and supporting Indian Muslim youths and other volunteers in carrying out acts of terrorism as part of ever-expanding jehad?.
This is not a book of fiction written by a Hindutva-wadi. This is written by a man who had spent a lifetime in Indian Intelligence and it is a foolish administration that does not take notice of what is going on in India, apparently in full knowledge of the Administration. Dhar'srevelations, modest as they are, are frightening. But what he has revealed is a mere tip of the iceberg. Clearly we are sitting on a volcano assured by our secularists that all is well. To be forewarned is to be fore-armed. Let not the government say that it has not been forewarned. Dhar'swork surely should come as a wake-up call to the Administration.
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