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Neighbourly Wisdom

Islamabad's India policy is hostage to the dictates of the army and intelligence agencies. Indian diplomats posted there virtually live under a siege—harassment and intimidation are commonplace. The country hasn't forgotten 1971 and the memoirs of Br

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Neighbourly Wisdom
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Pakistan is India's immediate neighbour and according to Chanakya's philosophy we can never be their friends. For us, the men in uniform and those directly charged with the responsibility of defending the geographical and ideological frontiers of Pakistan, India is and shall remain our enemy number one. India's scheming, machinations, subversion and espionage activities against Pakistan have to be fought at every front and with all the strength at our disposal.

With experience we have gained adequate knowledge of India's modus operandi, techniques and categories of personnel involved. Indian Embassy staff and members of attached departments in Pakistan have been trained and geared to collect all types of information from all possible overt and covert sources. India also infiltrates agents, terrorists, subverters and saboteurs from across the border to undermine the security of Pakistan....

Indian diplomatic and non-diplomatic staff posted in Pakistan can be listed under four categories.

The first is of those who are from the diplomatic cadre and occupy higher slots in the Embassy/Consulate. These individuals operate through selected journalists, city elite, businessmen, industrialists and State functionaries with whom they establish social contacts.

Their other favourite domain of operations is politicians, particularly those in the Opposition and from the old school like the contemporaries of Sardar Shaukat Hayat, Nasrullah Khatak, Khan Wali Khan, C.R. Aslam, Kaswar Gardezi, I.A. Rehman etc.

This category of diplomats usually initiate their activities by holding parties and social functions.... Exclusive parties are held at the residence of diplomats amidst dimly-lit candles, Eastern music and red wine. Wives of some Indian diplomats, attired in their traditional saris, are always there to entertain and engage their guests in sweet conversation. Probably, few other cultures and traditions nurture their girls in more soft and serene mannerism than the Hindu civilization. These aphrodisiac nagmanis with naked bellies linger over their guests throwing meaningful smiles here and there. The stage is set with such a delightful but cunning perfection, that guests find them irresistible and soon get disarmed. They start to speak their minds. As the saying goes, 'when the wine sinks the words swim'.

The diplomats involve their guests in discussions on current political, economic, social and security matters. Not only opinions and reactions to various aspects of these subjects are culled, but suitable individuals are cultivated as contacts and informers. Some are recruited to provide alibi for nefarious activities. Some get hooked up as they feel elated on their entry into the prestigious diplomatic circle. Some are for good time and drinks. A few older ones lose their head on a 'bhabhi' (wife of a diplomat whom they prefer to call sister-in-law) and some are happy on the discovery of enthusiastic listeners with whom they can vent their feelings, frustrations and deprivations against their own people, country, establishment and political opponents.

At times, a member of Pakistan's intelligence or security agency would try to approach these 'elite' of the town and 'cream of the old' to know 'who is who' in the enemy community or what transpired during a particular gathering. Most of these men would take exception and feel offended as they claim that their rights and privileges as free citizens of a free country have been violated. Some express annoyance for being 'followed' and 'questioned'. Very few realize that the country's security and intelligence agencies have a role to play and a task to perform. Some, of course, show understanding and cooperate in a spirit of patriotism.

The second group is of those diplomats and non-diplomats who belong to the defence services, or are from police, intelligence bureau of RAW and are placed in different cover appointments. They also manage the visa and passport offices and their hounds are often seen snooping around innocent visa seekers.... Whenever they are out, they are there for a purpose; a personal meeting, to service a dead/ live drop, a fake drive to attract and identify surveillance, to divert surveillance away from a particular rendezvous or to give cover to another colleague. As these men are better paid and may be, also having a share in the SS funds, they live lavishly....

The third group is virtually the third category staff. Their activities are confined between their offices and residences. In the evenings they often escort their oversized wives to market for purchasing items of daily kitchen requirements. They look for the cheapest shop and invariably indulge in bargaining and comparing the prices with Indian markets. They often end up with purchasing a solitary cauliflower or a quarter kilogram of potatoes. They are miserly, live in poverty, endeavour to save every penny and while proceeding on home leave, take a kilo of rock salt for their parents. This category of staff avoids developing social contacts within or outside the community. They do not want to get involved and are even scared to talk to their Pakistan neighbours.

The fourth group is of those who are not in the Embassy or the Consulate but work under cover in departments like Embassy school, airline offices, banks and newspapers....

We, the C.I. (Counter Intelligence), accept India's security and intelligence challenge and try to counter it with dignity, better planning, sophisticated approach and superior C.I. strategy. We do grant a fair margin of success to RAW for their operations against Pakistan but we do not suffer from RAW phobia as the Indians suffer from ISI phobia. ISI is an obsession with them. From Assam to Bombay and from Madras to Kashmir, if there is a bomb blast or insurgency or struggle for independence, the Indians see a hidden ISI hand manipulating their affairs. Even some mothers scare their children to sleep lest the 'ISI men lurking in their streets would come into the house'.

Chanakya guides his disciples on fighting the enemy through treachery and assassinations. Women are mainly employed for this. He writes "Keepers of prostitutes should make the (enemy's) army chiefs infatuated with women possessed of great beauty and youth. When many or two of the chiefs feel passion, for one woman, assassins should create quarrels among them." Following his teachings, Indian intelligence agencies employ women for espionage. These women are no beauty queens or Devis. Some are prostitutes trained for the job and wives of some diplomats are permissive and they also lend a helping hand....

...Mrs Dhawan was educated, charming and an active member of the diplomatic community. She was already on our watch list as she was found to be over social and too keen to cultivate acquaintance with Pakistani families and would always ask pointed questions. It was suspected that she was a trained operator and assisted her husband in his clandestine activities. With her manners, she had charmed quite a few other diplomats, too, and some thought that she was also permissive.

To use the Indian terminology, she was a real gajgamni. Had a charming personality and an entangling soft and sweet mannerism. She could have been extremely dangerous but for her involvement, flirtation and lust for sex which had taken better of her personality and left her helpless, naked and defeated. She was crazy for Dhodi (an Indian diplomat) whom she addressed as 'Motu Sahib'. Her unsatiable (sic) desire for sex had made her worthless as far as Indian intelligence assignments were concerned.

Mrs Dhodi was most of the time travelling to and from India, preparing and making arrangements for Ritu's wedding which was fast approaching. Dhodi being senior would frequently detail Dhawan on official trips to India. Dhodi's house or Dhawan's apartment would always be available to them for love-making. In the early hours of the mornings, either she would be seen leaving Dhodi's house or Dhodi coming out of Dhawan's apartment.

It was discovered that Mrs Dhawan was a nymphomaniac. During her frequent sex bouts with Dhodi, she would like to try all forms and methods of love-making as given in their books KamaSutra or Kokshastra. Not content with that, she would try and recapture the previous night's experiences, feelings and erotic thoughts and tape record these in her husky voice and get the cassette delivered to Dhodi. Dhodi would listen and relive the experience of last night. 'Pathan', Mohan and Ritu would also listen and often make apt and meaningful remarks. How these youngsters behaved after listening to those tapes, was anybody's guess.

Mrs Dhawan would also write letters to Dhodi, in English and in Roman Hindi, expressing her love and telling him how wonderful he had been last night. Absolute porno.

One fine morning, Dhodi and Ritu (his daughter) left for India. Ritu said she would not be coming back as she was going to get married.... Mrs Dhawan really missed Dhodi. She had completely broken down and was in pieces. Availing the opportunity, we cleverly introduced a 'Handsome' to her. She took the bait and 'Handsome' being younger, stronger, taller and wealthier than Dhodi, soon became Mrs Dhawan's darling. She fell as madly for 'Handsome' as she had for Dhodi. Mrs Dhawan was not the same when Dhodi returned.

'Handsome' prevailed upon her to get their love-making scene video tapped (sic). She liked the idea but it had to be auto-taping. Long amorous courtship bouts were filmed which they used to replay quite often. This would further excite her and she would invariably lose all her sense of proportion and norms of decency in love-making. She would try novel methods and float in the murky horizons of enjoyment for hours together.

In return for these 'services' of the sire, Mrs Dhawan agreed to play to our tune. She could not afford to lose 'Handsome' at any cost. We found her a willing, intelligent and a cooperative worker. Flow of classified information through her was endless. She had the advantage that she could visit any officer any time. She was welcome everywhere and no particular security measures were adopted when she was around. She could discuss various cases and could also scan through the files lying around the tables. We never asked her to bring out any classified file. She was armed with a miniature tape recorder which fitted well in her undergarments and its microphone found a perfect space under brassieres. She had only to read out the contents of a file aloud and those were recorded. That arrangement worked wonders. She was very observant and also knew what type of information was of interest to us. She took risks and brought extremely useful pieces of information. Gradually she was becoming indispensable for our C.I. efforts....We were sorry when her husband received his posting orders.

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