Major blow to RAW offensive as ISI cages ‘Blue Bird’
LAHORE - Indian spymaster for Balochistan and Karachi, Bhushan Yadav was hunted down after a long drawn ‘catch operation’ of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), key security officials told The Nation yesterday.
The hunt for the senior operative of Indian intelligence agency RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) was on for more than one and a half year under a secret operation codenamed ‘Blue Bird’.
Yadav’s movements between bordering areas of Pakistan with Afghanistan and Iran were under surveillance, and with his arrest Pakistan’s premier security service successfully nailed down a major spy ring which was carrying out subversive activities in the country.
The arrested officer is said to be a Commander of Indian Navy who was assigned to RAW’s Office of Special Operations in the mid of 2013 after his relieve from Indian Naval Intelligence Directorate, according to informed officials. The mentioned section of RAW, which is India’s external security service, is responsible for launching offensive actions on targeted states.
Despite having information about his dubious role, he was not touched by the ISI team with the aim to reach his entire network of operatives and giving the possibility of netting a target even bigger than Yadav.
In a chain of counter-intelligence operations, the ISI hunted down some members of his ring who after debriefing, were thrown in the field again to allure important contacts of Yadav in Balochistan and Karachi, said the security officials.
The ISI team and its information network in bordering areas of Balochistan were tailing New Delhi’s top spy aggressively for the past 12 months because the agency had strong indications that the enemy agents would accelerate their bids to damage China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects and stir a new wave of violence in the volatile province by using Baloch separatists and sectarian outfits.
Additionally, under Yadav’s command a new series of subversive operations had also been planned for Karachi where TTP sleepers and mercenaries of militant wings of various political and non-political groups were to be used, the security officials added.
The ISI finally captured Yadav on his last trip to Balochistan sometime this month when it assessed that there were no more big catches expected in Yadav’s company and that his agents could launch a series of terror attacks in Balochistan and Karachi, they said.
According to some documents relating to Yadav that have been shared with selected media outlets including The Nation, the RAW officer belongs to Mumbai and possesses a passport registered under the name Hussain Mubarak Patel. His passport number is L9630722 that bears Iranian visa with April 16, 1970 as his date of birth.
The services of Yadav were acquired from Indian Naval Intelligence Directorate in mid 2013 for RAW. His service number with Indian Navy was 41558. He earlier served at Iran’s port Chabahar as a naval intelligence officer.
During interrogation, Yadav confessed to having links with Baloch militants and provision of funding and logistic support to operatives of terrorist organisations. He admitted New Delhi’s involvement in subversive operations in Balochistan focusing CPEC and fanning militancy in Karachi.
The suspected members of Yadav ring who were captured in intelligence-led operations include Deepak Kumar Parkash, who was recruited by RAW officers working under diplomatic cover in Indian mission.
Parkash, a resident of Kalat (Balochistan), was recruited by the RAW officers of military rank when he went to Indian mission to obtain a visa to visit Hindu temples in New Delhi in 2014.
He told the counter-intelligence team of ISI that he had been offered visa extension to live with his brother in India. In addition to that, he received 50,000 rupees while his New Delhi residing brother received 4.5 lacs for espionage activities in Balochistan, said the security officials.
Another suspected member of Yadav ring, Nadeem aka Uncle was captured from Karachi in a joint operation of the intelligence agency and Sindh Counter Terrorism Department. Yet another suspected member of this gang, Muhammad Shafiq, was also captured from Karachi.
Two agents of RAW working under the garb of Indian engineers and giving consultation services to a sugar mill of a top political family were also captured by a key intelligence service of the military, said the security officials.
Published in The Nation newspaper on 26-Mar-2016
http://nation.com.pk/national/26-Mar-2016/major-blow-to-raw-offensive-as-isi-cages-blue-bird
