By Ehtesham Anwar

In the current scenario, it is hard to believe a world without espionage and Intel agencies that indeed are responsible for national security and law enforcement in their respective countries and for the purpose, they sometimes cross their legitimate boundaries and act to damage the enemies within their territories. Spies, undercover agents or secret agents are unsung heroes or the forgotten warriors of the covert wars for every nation, and they suffered for their people to provide them peaceful leaving. They cross borders to help their governments, seek vital information and to carry out covert operations, though not remotely as glamorous a profession as mostly cinema would like us to believe, their story takes on darker hues if they happen to be caught in enemy territories. Many of those heroes would never return and those who would, find themselves shunned and unrecognized by the very people, who recruited or sent them to cross the enemies’ borderlines.

Some renowned Intel agencies are Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Mossad, MI6, GRU and so on. All the spy agencies have their own motifs to act of their areas of interests as Pakistan has been the victim of almost all leading spy agencies including RAW, CIA, MI6, GRU, Mossad and now the baby Afghan KHAD that carry out espionage and destruction’s through their agents and local facilitators while the ISI has retaliated them successfully and could manage to restrict hundreds of attacks on national integrity and security. As India has so far been the fierce rival of Pakistan and even after 70 years, it could not be able to accept Pakistan as sovereign neighboring country since its inception and keeps endeavoring to destabilize or subvert its prosperity and progress, and for that India continuously sending RAW agents to Pakistan for sabotaging and destructing through funding to engage local Pakistanis in illegal activities including terrorism, extremism and anti-state activities.

Kulbushan Jadiv

Sooner the Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval took charges of his office, clearly stated that his aim to destabilize Pakistan through internal engagements like funding to Baloch rebels, nationalists and anti-state elements in interior (rural) Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Karachi, and he, somehow, successfully executing his plan through his relative Kulbushan Jadiv, who had been operating with the name of Hussain Mubarak Patel in Balochistan to fuel Baloch anarchy and head of banned-outfit People’s Amn Committee Uzair Baloch in Karachi. It is pertinent to mention that Kulbushan Jadiv was not the first to be arrested and awarded death sentences but number of RAW agents were nabbed and given death penalties though their sentences were never executed and most of them died with natural causes.

Jadiv is a high profile convict as he has been leading RAW on-ground operations in Pakistan that also strengthen ISI grip against the espionage and subversion in the country while demoralizing Indian defence and inside RAW. After being awarded the death sentence, Indian civil society and right-wing Hindus started to pressurize their government to act against Jadiv’s conviction and for that India went to International Criminal Court (ICC) to stop Jadiv execution but there is an issue as Jadiv admitted his involvement in anti-Pakistan activities through espionage and sabotage, could favour Pakistan’s stance against India, operating within Pakistan’s territory and trying to destabilize the country and it is sheer violation of international charter to respect sovereignty of all the nation.

Sarabjeet Singh

For the last forty years, RAW continuously deputes agents in Pakistan while ISI keeps tracking, unfolding their malice agendas and bringing them before the court to execute justice. Pakistan’s Intel agencies arrested Sarabjeet Singh in August 1990, who was later convicted for spying and given death penalty for carrying out bombings in Faisalabad, Multan and Lahore. India initially claimed Sarabjeet was mere a drunken farmer who entered into Pakistan’s territories while wandering around. Sarabjeet was succumbed to death after some inmates allegedly attacked on him at Kot Lakhpat Jail in 2013. Ridiculously, India paid official funeral to Sarabjeet, whom it formerly claimed a drunken farmer but later admitted as its spy (RAW agent) responsible to sabotage and espionage in Pakistan.

Ravinder Kaushik

One of the glamorous undercover agents in history of spying was Ravinder Kaushik and was given the title of “Black Tiger” started his career as a theatre artist while performing at the national level dramatic-meet in Lucknow, he was discovered by a RAW officer. Later, he was offered a job to work as an undercover agent of India and sent to Pakistan on a mission with a name Nabi Ahmed Shakir. He successfully got admission in University of Karachi, later received his LLB degree that helped him to join Pakistan Army and became a commissioned officer and promoted up to the rank of a Major from 1979 to 1983, while in military services, he passed on valuable information to RAW which was of great help to the Indian defence forces.

In September 1983, RAW had sent an agent, Inyat Masiha, to get in touch with Black Tiger. But the agent was caught by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies and he revealed Kaushik’s true identity that caused Major Kaushik’s arrest. He was awarded death sentence in the year 1985 but his sentence was commuted to a life term by the Pakistan Supreme court and on 21 November 2001, he succumbed to pulmonary tuberculosis and heart disease in New Central Jail Multan.