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India & the
Struggle for Tamil Eelam
RAW recalls Colombo officer
suspected of ‘Chinese Connection’
Pranab Dhal Samanta,
Indian Express, 7 October 2007
"...Despite all the global spy bonhomie that
is supposed to have broken out after 9/11, the CIA, like any competent
espionage organisation, has continued to target India. The Pokhran-II
nuclear tests of 1998 brutally exposed the CIA's human intelligence
limitations in South Asia, and it does not wish to be caught by surprise
again. India's establishment is more vulnerable now than at any point in the
past. The large number of politicians, bureaucrats and military officers
whose children study or work in the U.S. provide an easy source of
influence. Indeed, alarming numbers of them seem to be exceptionally
meritorious students who get full scholarships. Efforts to recruit from this
pool are not new. In the early 1980s, the son of then RAW chief N.
Narasimhan left the U.S. after efforts were made to approach the spy chief
through him. Narasimhan's son had been denied a visa extension, and was
offered its renewal in return for his cooperation with the U.S.'
intelligence services."
Our Man in New Delhi, Frontline, 2 July 2004
[see also
Salamat Ali: Sex for secrets – An Indian Official is caught in the Leaking
Act, 1987;
யாழ்ப்பாணத்தில் 'றோ'வின் கண்கள் - New Delhi's RAW in
Jaffna;
Struggle
For Tamil Eelam: The Intelligence War
and, generally
International Dimensions of the Conflict in Sri Lanka - Nadesan Satyendra, 2
October 2007]
RAW Headquarters in New Delhi
New Delhi, October 6: Three years after it watched
Joint Secretary Rabinder Singh flee the country, allegedly to the US, the
country’s premier external intelligence agency, the Research & Analysis Wing
(RAW), has been forced to bring another of its officers under the scanner. It
has issued orders to recall its representative in Sri Lanka for alleged links
with a woman foreign national suspected to have a “Chinese Connection.”
Confirming this to the Sunday Express, government sources said that RAW’s
decision comes after it received several reports from different agencies,
including the Indian High Commission in Colombo, on the “questionable movements”
of Ravi Nair, a 1975 batch research and analysis service (RAS) officer and that
inquiries were carried out by different quarters before instructions for Nair’s
recall were passed.
After a stint in Hong Kong, Nair has been in Colombo for little over a year.
It’s learnt that his alleged links with the woman date back to his previous
tenure and authorities here became cautious when Nair “revived” these links in
Colombo. While RAW is silent on the nature of these links, sources said, there
was reasonable doubt of a Chinese connection which accentuated concerns here
leading to a further probe.
This is not the first time that Nair’s on the radar. sources said he came
under a cloud during his earlier postings in US, Pakistan and Bhutan. Despite
these red flags along the way, Nair was moved from one sensitive assignment to
the other.
This time, though, another officer has been identified to replace Nair who
is likely to move out within a month from now.
Already facing the heat for the high-handed manner in which it moved against
former RAW official Maj Gen (retd) V K Singh over his book, the agency is
treading cautiously.
And action against Nair has strengthened demands that similar alacrity be
shown against those named in the Rabinder Singh inquiry.
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