This article is Part-2 of a series. You can read Part-1, Part-3 and Part-4 here.

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Pakistani Army knows for a fact that it is an onerous task to win a conventional war against Indian army, and ergo it has entrusted it’s secret war machine, ISI, to carry out its dirty plan of a proxy war against India. ISI, bete noire of Indian security agencies, is the reason for a lot things that’s wrong within India today. This agency has successfully managed to take terrorism to the heartland of India and plant its agents in every nook and corner of our country: the complacent members of this mafia make up the Hamam.

It’s a well-known fact that many Indian politicians to journalists, to several thespians of Indian film industry, are all eating out of ISI’s hands. Mumbai blast’93 , was one of the first incident when the nexus was exposed; Vohra committee report had been very vociferous about the nefarious activities carried out by this mafia.

A former intel officer, Colonel R S N Singh, had said that “there is enough material on hand to suggest that politicians are being blackmailed as they share close ties with hawala operatives who are under the control of the ISI and also the Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT)”.

He wasn’t joking!

One such example is of the Ex-Indian Prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, who allegedly received money through a bank called Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), which had ISI links; the money was in the form of a scholarship to his daughter. This bank had been notorious for funneling money to Afghani Mujahideens and for this reason it was shut down in many countries. But under Manmohan Singh as RBI Governor, BCCI got a chance to open a branch in Mumbai, the financial hub of India. Things got murkier when Gen VK Singh, Ex COAS, hinted years later, that TKA Nair, an adviser to PM Manmohan Singh, had his hands in the “Tatra scam” cookie jar. Too much of a coincidence?

It would not be far from truth if one were to say that the badge of being honest PM and best FM of India are probably mere myths vis-a-vis our Ex-PM, Mr Manmohan Singh. Truth can indeed be stranger than fiction!!!

No, it is not the author’s imagination that many senior Congress leaders have been very vocal about their support to Pakistani establishments.  Mani Shankar Aiyer, who sympathizes with separatists, has been very open in asking for Pakistan’s support to over throw the present government; DigVijay Singh, vehemently supported the idea that 26/11 was an insider’s job, despite Ex- CIA chief confirming ISI’s hand behind the attack. Hamam or the diplomatic cocktail is not a cock and bull story.

There’s more to this story but that will be covered in another article or we will end up digressing from the topic at hand.

Our enemy spy agency which has many Indian politicians as its puppets, had the temerity of dreaming to cause greater affliction to India, but its biggest hurdle was the Indian defence forces. Be it the Kashmir valley or the coasts of Maharashtra, our defence forces have always managed to thwart attacks, and flay ISI’s hideous plans. 26/11 was one of the most successful operations that ISI conducted on Indian soil with the help of its members in hamam as confessed by Nawaz sharif, Ex-PM of Pakistan, himself. It’s next aim was to get rid of the officers within forces who could have sabotaged ISI’s future game plans.

The names!!!

Col Purohit and Col Hunny Bakshi are two famous names who paid the price for having infiltrated into ISI’s proxy organizations in India.

Col Purohit, as we all know, was the guy who had famously penetrated the LeT and Indian Mujahideen (IM) modules in India, only to end up being arrested and turned into the poster boy of (non-existent) Saffron Terror.

Col Hunny Bakshi and his team in TSD, were very close to executing Hafiz Saeed when the unit was disbanded and he faced court martial. Oh yes! You read that right- HAFIZ SAEED. My previous article had discussed in length TSD, its working style and its targets which included ISI office and Syed Salahuddin (leader of LeT).

Purohit and Bakshi weren’t the only names which paid the price for doing their duty. The gamut of names which faced the hammer cannot be covered in this article but a few names at prominent posts who faced direct repercussions for siding with truth will surely be revealed.

One such lesser known name is Brigadier LI Singh, a man who had seen many undeclared wars with Pakistan in the high-altitude regions like Siachen, in 1985-86 and 1990-92, who was later awarded Yudh Seva Medal for his personal leadership resulting in occupation of six tactically dominating features besides inflicting heavy casualties on enemy personnel and materials during Kargil War. He was a man who could very easily have reached the rank of Lt.General, but he had committed a mistake.

While handling the post of Deputy director general (discipline and vigilance), he had handed over DV ban against Gen. Dalbir Singh Suhag, (Ex COAS, successor of Gen Bikram Singh) for staging a successful cover-up in Jorhat Issue, during his tenure as eastern army commander. Brig. L.I.Singh had to later face a court of inquiry for alleged financial irregularities. This medal winning, honest officer with a spotless reputation continues to pay dearly for having stood by his higher sense of morality and conviction.

General VK Singh and his bete noire Genera Bikram Singh

Next in line is Gen VK Singh, Ex COAS, who famously dragged MoD to the supreme court in age row. His matriculation certificate and other documents show his year of birth as 1951, the same year as recorded by the army hospital in Pune, where he was born while his father was a major. The plan to rake up his age issue was plotted as early as 2006, when MS Branch stumbled upon his UPSC application where his age was mentioned as 1950. It is said that Gen JJ Singh and Gen Deepak Kapoor had forced Gen VK singh into accepting 1950 as his year of birth.

This might sound innocuous to most, till one comes to know that changing his year of birth from 1951 to 1950 reduced his tenure as COAS by one year. This helped Gen Bikram singh to get promoted as COAS, who would have otherwise retired as a Lt Gen, had Gen VK Singh’s age row not ended in Gen Bikram Singh’s favour. Lets not forget that Gen VK singh was the whistle-blower in case of Tatra scam & Adarsh housing scam. So it comes as no surprise that an intelligence unit (TSD) which was raised under General VK Singh’s, was promptly disbanded under Gen Bikram Singh, when politicians came to know of its existence. What followed in the aftermath was surge in attacks on the LoC including beheading of Indian soldier.

Another name which faced the wrath of politically motivated promotions within Indian Army was, Maj Gen Ravi Arora. A gold medalist from Gen Bikram Singh’s batch, whose promotion ended up in a state of limbo till Bikram Singh was promoted ahead of him. An ideal case of a competitor eliminated skillfully.

It was an operation of sorts, when many officers more capable than Gen Bikram Singh were sidelined, and Gen VK Singh’s tenure was reduced to raise Gen Bikram Singh to the post of COAS. Other names which were neutralized in the process included— at Brigadier level- Padam Budhwar and MM Chaudhary; at Major-General level- Shujan Chatterjee & AK Singh.

Politically motivated promotions within Indian Army

To anyone who is dilettante and unaware of the fact that Indian Army sees a good amount of political interference in promotions among its higher echelons, would only be bemused by the facts mentioned earlier.

Gen Bikram Singh, was in the good books of Gen JJ Singh (Ex COAS, who later became the governor of Arunachal Pradesh) and Ex-PM Manmohan singh even before he turned Chief of Army staff. In his book, Courage and conviction, Gen VK Singh does hint that MMS or more specifically his wife was just too keen to get Gen Bikram Singh promoted as COAS. This was also something that PM’s adviser, TKA Nair had confirmed while schmoozing with many.

The case becomes only too interesting when one comes to know Gen Bikram Singh’s daughter in law is a Pakistani woman. Her father is a Pakistani while her mother is from Central Asia, but it’s a completely different story that she was given a clean chit by the IB (Intelligence bureau), which was then headed by Nehchal Sandhu, another one of MMS’s men . Ideally, somebody holding a post which is remotely connected to the security of the country, would come under the radar for such rebarbative connections with the enemy state. So its shocking that COAS of Indian Army, Gen Bikram Sigh, could get away unscathed.

Oh well! I do love giving people the benefit of doubt. But then of course it would be considered “thinking out loud” if I were to mention that MMS had helped in elevating an official as Home secretary who had a history of protecting ULFA’s man.

Joining the dots isn’t hard, but only a few would dare to do so. The big names associated with the controversy, prevented someone as bold and senior as Gen VK Singh from pointing a finger directly at PM MMS in his autobiography. There were mere indirect hints at MMS.

PMs from Congress party have a history of protecting ISI agents?

One must really have a very generous heart to give away one of the most prized possession of your motherland to your enemy, or be a puppet of the enemy state to come up with the idea of giving away Siachen for gratis, to Pakistan. Yes, PM Manmohan Singh & Gen JJ Singh did contemplate it, but alas, their efforts were watered down by then NSA, MK Narayanan.

It is no surprise that a PM from congress party would take such an action. Long ago, while Rajiv Gandhi was the PM of the country, IB had to face the heat when it busted an ISI espionage ring. An ISI officer, Brigadier Abbasi, operating under the diplomatic cover, was picked up by the Indian agency  but IB  was promptly given instructions to go slow on such activities. There was another incident in the year 1994, when PMO’s office intervened promptly to rescue ISI agents who had managed to infiltrate into many institutions in the state of UP & Bihar. In the same year, India’s Pakistan counter intelligence unit was close to busting a module of ISI-trained operatives in West Bengal and Bihar, when its officer’s ended up being accused of harassing the minority. A card still played very deftly by likes of Mamta Banerjee, so why are we surprised that Bengal is in a quagmire?

It would be like living in a morass of lies if one believes that ISI could not or can not manipulate Indian Politicians at its whims. It has in fact worked in tandem with our leaders to chafe Indian Army. Believe it or not !!!