Mumbai blasts: The day of the spooks
Almost each diplomat I talked to felt good about ‘the restraint’ the Indian govt maintained ‘this time around’.
War and peace related intelligence with a capital I, is not my cup of tea. Still, one heard a lot about it at the reception that the French ambassador held at a five-star hotel on Thursday evening. A former head of our awe-instilling ISI, General (retd) Assad Durrani, was also there. A circle of diplomats around him grabbed attention and I opted to sneak into it.
On Thursday morning, an Indian and a Pakistani newspaper simultaneously printed an op-ed piece that he had co-authored with a former head of RAW (the Research and Analysis Wing), the Indian rival of our ‘premier agency’. Both urged the decisions makers in New Delhi and Islamabad to formally establish some mechanism, permitting frequent RAW-ISI contacts. Such contacts, both insisted, would avert the war mongering hysteria that erupts in South Asia.
It obviously was a pure coincidence that the said piece appeared the morning after three explosions occurred in Mumbai. Yet, the reckless reporter in me threw a teaser at general Durrani: “It is but obvious that you and Dulat (the co-author of the said piece), were anticipating what happened in Mumbai on Wednesday evening while writing the article that appeared this morning.”
A senior Western diplomat who was listening in looked shocked. Durrani calmed him, though, by introducing me as a “naughty cynic among Islamabad-based journalists”.
Later, another Western diplomat separately told me that like the rest of his colleagues he was prepared to endure another round of mutual accusations and diplomatic stand-offs between the two countries, after hearing the news of the serial blasts. He felt doubly panicky; for, one of his colleagues was staying at a five star hotel in Lahore, when the blasts in Mumbai happened. The Indian high commissioner was also staying there, but was seen doing a rushed check out when the news of blasts in Mumbai was being telecast.
Almost each diplomat I talked to felt good about ‘the restraint’ that the Indian government maintained ‘this time around’. I shared my admiration for some media outlets and persons in the same context.
While things appeared somewhat sane and moving in right directions on the Indo-Pakistan front, there were questions on the visible drift in Pakistan-US relations. General Pasha had gone to Washington and many at the French reception were keen to get some idea to the outcome of his meetings there.
A well-placed person at one of our national security outfits was also present at the reception. I tried hard to get something tangible from him. Sadly, spooks don’t speak. Although, I provoked him to say that whatever was being printed in both the US and Pakistan media regarding Pasha’s engagements in Washington were “nothing but speculative stories and scenarios. Things are far more serious.”
An Arab diplomat is known for keenly following happenings on the Pakistan-US front. He also is stubbornly secretive. My relentless questioning made him claim that the real objective of Pasha’s visit was to find a “doable answer to questions that Americans have been asking after combing the trove of digital data recovered from Osama’s compound in Abbotabad”. Some ‘rogue elements’ and a few ‘jihadis’ were found as if being “in some communication, if not with Osama directly but surely with his courier. Shouldn’t they be roped in for a deeper probe?” Though fascinating for their Kafkaesque details, the cloak and dagger stories always sound ominous to my cowardly heart.
I slipped to establish contact with Syed Naveed Qamar. Along with his wife, the minister for water and power had come there to formally represent the government and did the ceremonial cake-cutting. Even after doing the ‘official stuff’, Naveed preferred to mingle with the diplomats. The move seemed deliberate; for, a horde of journalists were dying to get him to speak on questions they wanted to put on Zulfiqar Mirza’s latest remarks against the MQM.
President Zardari had summoned Mirza to Islamabad and while talking to this correspondent, Syed Naveed Qamar was not willing even to confirm his arrival. With his elegant poise and polite grins, he kept acting as if totally clueless regarding the mess.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 16th, 2011.
On Thursday morning, an Indian and a Pakistani newspaper simultaneously printed an op-ed piece that he had co-authored with a former head of RAW (the Research and Analysis Wing), the Indian rival of our ‘premier agency’. Both urged the decisions makers in New Delhi and Islamabad to formally establish some mechanism, permitting frequent RAW-ISI contacts. Such contacts, both insisted, would avert the war mongering hysteria that erupts in South Asia.
It obviously was a pure coincidence that the said piece appeared the morning after three explosions occurred in Mumbai. Yet, the reckless reporter in me threw a teaser at general Durrani: “It is but obvious that you and Dulat (the co-author of the said piece), were anticipating what happened in Mumbai on Wednesday evening while writing the article that appeared this morning.”
A senior Western diplomat who was listening in looked shocked. Durrani calmed him, though, by introducing me as a “naughty cynic among Islamabad-based journalists”.
Later, another Western diplomat separately told me that like the rest of his colleagues he was prepared to endure another round of mutual accusations and diplomatic stand-offs between the two countries, after hearing the news of the serial blasts. He felt doubly panicky; for, one of his colleagues was staying at a five star hotel in Lahore, when the blasts in Mumbai happened. The Indian high commissioner was also staying there, but was seen doing a rushed check out when the news of blasts in Mumbai was being telecast.
Almost each diplomat I talked to felt good about ‘the restraint’ that the Indian government maintained ‘this time around’. I shared my admiration for some media outlets and persons in the same context.
While things appeared somewhat sane and moving in right directions on the Indo-Pakistan front, there were questions on the visible drift in Pakistan-US relations. General Pasha had gone to Washington and many at the French reception were keen to get some idea to the outcome of his meetings there.
A well-placed person at one of our national security outfits was also present at the reception. I tried hard to get something tangible from him. Sadly, spooks don’t speak. Although, I provoked him to say that whatever was being printed in both the US and Pakistan media regarding Pasha’s engagements in Washington were “nothing but speculative stories and scenarios. Things are far more serious.”
An Arab diplomat is known for keenly following happenings on the Pakistan-US front. He also is stubbornly secretive. My relentless questioning made him claim that the real objective of Pasha’s visit was to find a “doable answer to questions that Americans have been asking after combing the trove of digital data recovered from Osama’s compound in Abbotabad”. Some ‘rogue elements’ and a few ‘jihadis’ were found as if being “in some communication, if not with Osama directly but surely with his courier. Shouldn’t they be roped in for a deeper probe?” Though fascinating for their Kafkaesque details, the cloak and dagger stories always sound ominous to my cowardly heart.
I slipped to establish contact with Syed Naveed Qamar. Along with his wife, the minister for water and power had come there to formally represent the government and did the ceremonial cake-cutting. Even after doing the ‘official stuff’, Naveed preferred to mingle with the diplomats. The move seemed deliberate; for, a horde of journalists were dying to get him to speak on questions they wanted to put on Zulfiqar Mirza’s latest remarks against the MQM.
President Zardari had summoned Mirza to Islamabad and while talking to this correspondent, Syed Naveed Qamar was not willing even to confirm his arrival. With his elegant poise and polite grins, he kept acting as if totally clueless regarding the mess.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 16th, 2011.