'RAW officer' arrested in Balochistan

Home minister says man was in contact with Baloch separatists

QUETTA:

Security forces have arrested an Indian naval intelligence officer working for India’s premier intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said on Thursday.

“Kul Yadav Bhoshan, a commander-ranked officer in Indian Navy was working for RAW and was in contact with Baloch separatists and terrorists fuelling sectarian violence in Pakistan and Balochistan,” Bugti told the media. The minister, however, did not disclose the exact location of where the man was arrested.



ExpressNews reported the security forces arrested the ‘serving’ Indian officer near the Pakistan-Afghan border region of Chaman, Balochistan. The suspect, who is believed to have been working with insurgent commanders in the region, has been reportedly moved to Islamabad.

“The Indian spy was involved in financially supporting terrorists and also confessed to his involvement in Karachi unrest,” Bugti told the reporters.



Balochistan Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri said the provincial government had long been vocal on RAW’s covert operations in Balochistan.

“Today our stance has been vindicated,” he said. “Indian intelligence has been involved in destabilising our country using Balochistan’s soil and luring Baloch fighters and fuelling sectarian violence.”

Applauding the security forces, CM Zehri said today’s arrest proved the civilian government with the support of Pakistan Army and paramilitary forces had intensified action against terrorists. “We are committed to improving the law and order situation in Balochistan,” he said.



The CM also announced further information on Bhoshan’s mission would be given to the media in the next few days.

Islamabad and the Balochistan government have long accused RAW and Afghan intelligence of funding and training Baloch insurgents, who have been targeting security forces and pro-government personalities in the province for the past 10 years.

Security forces have stepped up operations in the violence-wracked Balochistan province since the announcement of the National Action Plan against terrorism in December 2014. The province has been in the throes of a low-key insurgency since 2004, which became deadlier after the killing of Baloch chieftain Nawab Akbar Bugti in 2006.

Islamabad sees India’s growing diplomatic initiatives in Afghanistan in the same period as a cover for RAW agents working to destabilise Pakistan by training and arming separatists in Balochistan.



Last year in September, three dossiers containing proof of Indian involvement in terrorist activities in Pakistan were handed over to the United Nations.

Prepared with utmost ‘diligence and care’, the dossiers contained ‘hard and irrefutable’ evidence regarding RAW hand in stoking terror in Balochistan, tribal areas and Karachi, according to the foreign office.


Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2016.