National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and Research and Analysis (R&AW) exchanged information with senior Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officials as part of a unique covert channel link between the two countries involving two foreign journalists, Adrian Levy and citing the NSA and other senior intelligence officials, according to a new book by reporters, Cathy Scott-Clark in 2018-2019, including after the Pulwama attack.

According to the authors, ISI officials denied within hours of the incident that they knew nothing about the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) attack in Pulwama, which was apparently planned in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, not Pakistan. However, Mr Doval and Deputy National Security Director Rajend Khanna did not believe Pakistani information and carried out the Balakot airstrike to “humiliate the Pakistani military”, the book says.

In a separate disclosure, the authors said Indian investigators found that “corrupt local police” helped four JeM terrorists infiltrate Pathankot airbase for an attack that killed seven security forces. Modi’s government unexpectedly invited a Pakistani investigative team to Pathankot to jointly investigate the terrorist attack, but relations between the two countries soon broke down and the joint investigation plan ended without results. The NIA charge sheet filed against JeM that same year did not mention that the terrorists were aided by men in uniform.

The authors also concluded that Kulbhushan Jadhav, a former naval commander accused of planning a terrorist attack and awaiting an appeal against Pakistan’s death sentence, is an “asset” rather than an “official” of the Indian intelligence agency “trapped” by Pakistan’s ISI Provided. India categorically denies the allegations and says that Mr Jadhav retired in 2001 and was kidnapped by Pakistani agencies in Iran. However, the book claims that due to Mr Jadhav’s entry into Pakistan from Iran, many Indian intelligence agencies were concerned about recruiting He showed interest, and he was lured by ISI to Karachi to meet with a Balochistan contact.

“According to some of the people we interviewed at the IB (Intelligence Bureau), the R&AW and the Indian Navy as well as Pakistan’s ISI and military intelligence agencies, many agencies are suddenly interested in someone like [Jadhav] who has the money to travel with cover. …Iranian Balochistan and Chabahar already have significant R&AW investments in assets and officers, but having Jadhav who can travel widely and even go down to Karachi will set him apart,” Lee said. Mr. Wei in an interview. He added: “Not as an officer trained, deployed and supported by the agency, but as an asset, we were told, a person reporting to handlers and supervisors with [his] insights.”

Complete News Source : The Hindu