New Delhi: The safety of Indian prisoners languishing in Pakistani jails has once again come into sharp focus following the assault on Sarabjit Singhat Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail. While Pakistan alleges that Sarabjit is an Indian spy, he claims that he inadvertently crossed the border and was caught by Pakistani security agencies. While the truth is not clear, the animosity between the two countries has led to authorities on both sides of the border forgetting about those in jails.
Sarabjit's family claims that he has been a victim of mistaken identity and the bomb blast case in which he has been convicted was carried out by another person called Manjeet. Sarabjit was involved in another case of mistaken identity in June 2012 when Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari announced that he was being released.
However, following protests in Pakistan the authorities clarified that it was not Sarabjit but another Indian prisoner Surjeet Singh who was being released. After coming back to India Surjeet Singh claimed that he was a spy and had been sent by Indian authorities to Pakistan. He also added that he had been to Pakistan 85 times and was arrested on his 86th visit. While his claims have been rubbished by Indian authorities, Surjeet's statements made brought the spy game back into the limelight about with former RAW chief B Raman has written in great detail.
Most of the Indians in Pakistani jails were arrested in the 1980s and 90s when Pakistani intelligence agency ISI was actively supporting Khalistani terror groups against India. To counter the ISI plan, RAW created two top secret operations groups code named Counter Intelligence Team-X and Counter Intelligence Team-J. While Counter Intelligence Team-X was tasked with carrying out strikes at common places in Pakistani, Counter Intelligence Team-J was specifically created to target Khalistani groups.
According to sources several people were trained as spies by the Indian agencies. Several of them succeeded in their missions while some of them were caught by the Pakistanis. But it is not clear if men like Surjeet were part of the Indian spy network although he has alleged that if any Indian spy is caught in Pakistan, the agencies back home simply disown him.
Comments
0 comment