Mathur's free run in Pakistan
First Published : 18 Nov 2009 12:59:00 AM ISTLast Updated : 18 Nov 2009 10:37:24 PM IST
NEW DELHI: A B Mathur, recently posted in the Research and Analysis Wing to possibly take over as chief in 2011, has serious question marks over his record.While posted in Islamabad in the late '90s, his bank account details of a previous European posting was noticed by the RAW top brass. There was around $125,000 parked in his personal account in Brussels; a bank statement managed to find its way to the then RAW chief.It was more or less equivalent, contend experts, to what Mathur would have earned during his entire posting, including his foreign allowance. If his entire salary and allowance were deposited, on what did he live? How could a government servant be awash with so much money? Mathur was returning to headquarters from Islamabad, but the then RAW chief felt queasy. Signs had emerged that Mathur might be freelancing in addition to working for the RAW. RAW wanted to repatriate Mathur to the Intelligence Bureau, but it didn't seem keen on having him back; the IB in turn was considering sending Mathur back to his parent cadre, Manipur.The then RAW chief Vikram Sood along with IB counterpart Shyamal Dutta met the then National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra. Mishra asked the IB to enquire and papers, including bank statement for a year and correspondence, were handed over to the IB. When contacted, Sood refused to get into the details, saying only: "<Ab yeh sab baathein kyon bekar mein ched rahe ho? Thab bhi kuchh nahin hua, ab bhi kuchh nahin hoga.> ("Why are you uselessly raking this up now? Nothing happened then, nothing will happen now.") But other sources familiar with Mathur's case say the money was only one aspect.Another dimension of Mathur's Pakistan posting worried the Pakistan desk at RAW HQ. It found that Pakistani intelligence went unnaturally easy on Mathur; Islamabad is usually the toughest posting of a RAW officer's career. Each and every move by undercover officers is closely and aggressively monitored by local intelligence. Barring one incident, where his car tyre hubs were maliciously removed, Mathur seemed to have thrived – while almost the entire RAW team under him was harassed, declared <persona non grata> and thrown out of Pakistan.People posted in Pakistan at that t ime remember that Mathur had an extraordinarily free run in Islamabad as well.They noticed that the ISI handlers showed deference to Mathur and his wife, even when they went shopping. How could it be possible, considering that he headed the visa section, traditionally the RAW cover? Or was it because of his extra-official activities in Islamabad? Islamabad tends to be a hectic posting for any RAW officer and yet Mathur found time to put his feet up in the Gulf area now and then.The details or result of the IB's enquiry are unclear, but Dutta's successor, K P Singh, who viscerally disliked RAW, dumped Mathur in Guwahati.IB appears to have heaved a sigh of relief with Mathur's return to RAW in September.
--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment