Source: Pakistan Observer - Newspaper online edition - Article
By: Asem Awan
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed his serious concerns about the performance and efficacy of India’s premier intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). Defence experts including Dr Arun Dhatti Roy and Gurmit Singh have called upon the Government to restructure the organization. In this backdrop, the Indian government is looking for handing over the reins of RAW to a highly competent professional. As the retirement of sitting chief Mr Ashok Chaturvedi is scheduled on January 31, 2009, an in-house race for succession has commenced. The new boss will have to accept this task under the most challenging environment, post-Mumbai. The analysts are viewing the papers provided by India to the Pakistan government, establishing “proofs” of LeT-JuD involvement in the November 26 incident. Ejaz Haider of Daily Times and Talat Hussain of Aaj TV have skillfully dissected the dossier and proved it totally baseless and illogical. David Miliband’s visit has added to the Indian dismay and the western media has also started putting weight on Pakistan’s side.
It is being believed that Mumbai incident was a well played drama staged by the Research and Analysis Wing (RA&W) on the lines of Bollywood’s “Wednesday” blockbuster released in September last year, in which Naseeruddin Shah played the role of “Pakistani terrorist”. The shooting of the movie took place in the same Mumbai hotels and the choosing of Wednesday (November 26) was also not a coincident. In this background the new chief of RAW would hold the reins. According to reports published in UK newspapers and tabloids, names of Mr P V Kumar, Sanjeev Tripathi, Rana Banerjee, Nachal Sandhu and K C Verma are in the limelight for succeeding Mr Ashok Chaturvedi. P V Kumar from Kerala is the senior most officer with distinguished career, and enjoys support within the organization as a fair-minded, apolitical professional. He is considered an expert on China and Pakistan but given the absence of political clout and the lobbying skills of his rivals, he is likely to retire in his current post of additional secretary sometime this year.
Mr Sanjeev Tripathi, the son-in-law of the former RAW chief G S Bajpal (1990-91) is an Indian Public Service commissioned officer from UP and currently heading Aviation Research Centre. He is often described as the protégé of Mr Ashok Chaturvedi, being the sitting chief’s close friend. Tripathi has no region-specific expertise and stands out controversial for using backdoor channels and the position of his father-in-law. As the head of ARC Tripathi reportedly allowed his mentor, Chaturvedi and his wife Asha, unsanctioned use of helicopter to travel to temples around India on private visits. He is also known for his close relations with the influential Mauritian politicians Jaya Krishna Cuttaree and Paul Berenger, despite the fact that former is well-known for his hostile views towards India.
Reports have also been appearing in the Indian press saying that Mr. Tripathi’s wife, Mrs Neeta, had been involved in unauthorized use of cultural centre of the Indian High Commission in Mauritius where she had held numerous exhibitions of her paintings and transferred the money to India through a Hawala operation in order to avoid detection by revenue agencies. Tripathi also used his position within the organization to sideline his perceived rivals. Jayadev Ranade and Lt Col S Maladi, both regarded as exceptional and highly professional officers were honored out of the agency by Tripathy when Chatuvedi took over as RAW chief. Rana Banerjee is next aspirant who is an Indian Administrative Service officer from Assam and has been in the organization for over 25 years but has never been in charge of a cover operation instead doing desk jobs to work as an analyst. He served in Pakistan where he was stationed at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad and is considered to be longest serving Pakistan analyst within RAW. He is known for making inappropriate sexual gestures. In a recent incident Nisha Bhatia, a female RAW employee tried to commit suicide outside PM’s House due to sexual harassment by Banerjee and other colleagues including Chaturvedi. However Banerjee has a good rapport with the minister for external affairs, Pranab Mukherjee. Also Chaturvedi recommended his for the largely ceremonial post of chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee in order to get him out of the organization and pave way for Tripathi but Benerjee refused the offer. Names of Nachal Sandhu and K C Verma, from Intelligence Bureau, are also in the list for the post. Mr. Sandhu is a specialist on militant groups operations in the Held Kashmir and Mr. Verma, ex-Director Narcotics, is currently Secretary Security in the Cabinet Secretariat. Both are considered as capable officers, however they are unlikely to be well received within the organization being outsiders. Whatever is the decision taken or whoever replaces whom, the focus of RAW’s new chief would be to gear up, in RAW’s former additional secretary B Raman’s words, campaign aimed at exploiting the security situation inside Pakistan and fuelling insurgency in Balochistan and its Federal Administered Tribal Areas.
In his analysis appeared in India Today (January 12, page 10) and www.saag.org website, B. Raman suggest the Indian government not to go for a war against Pakistan and instead weaken it from within. He observes R&AW has seen a decline in its performance and has few counterterrorism experts. There’s a lack of investment in research and development and over-secrecy kills interaction with experts. Indira Gandhi had wanted it to be an action-oriented agency but since 1997, it has become a purely intelligence collection agency.
Who will be RAW’s next chief?
By: Asem Awan
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed his serious concerns about the performance and efficacy of India’s premier intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). Defence experts including Dr Arun Dhatti Roy and Gurmit Singh have called upon the Government to restructure the organization. In this backdrop, the Indian government is looking for handing over the reins of RAW to a highly competent professional. As the retirement of sitting chief Mr Ashok Chaturvedi is scheduled on January 31, 2009, an in-house race for succession has commenced. The new boss will have to accept this task under the most challenging environment, post-Mumbai. The analysts are viewing the papers provided by India to the Pakistan government, establishing “proofs” of LeT-JuD involvement in the November 26 incident. Ejaz Haider of Daily Times and Talat Hussain of Aaj TV have skillfully dissected the dossier and proved it totally baseless and illogical. David Miliband’s visit has added to the Indian dismay and the western media has also started putting weight on Pakistan’s side.
It is being believed that Mumbai incident was a well played drama staged by the Research and Analysis Wing (RA&W) on the lines of Bollywood’s “Wednesday” blockbuster released in September last year, in which Naseeruddin Shah played the role of “Pakistani terrorist”. The shooting of the movie took place in the same Mumbai hotels and the choosing of Wednesday (November 26) was also not a coincident. In this background the new chief of RAW would hold the reins. According to reports published in UK newspapers and tabloids, names of Mr P V Kumar, Sanjeev Tripathi, Rana Banerjee, Nachal Sandhu and K C Verma are in the limelight for succeeding Mr Ashok Chaturvedi. P V Kumar from Kerala is the senior most officer with distinguished career, and enjoys support within the organization as a fair-minded, apolitical professional. He is considered an expert on China and Pakistan but given the absence of political clout and the lobbying skills of his rivals, he is likely to retire in his current post of additional secretary sometime this year.
Mr Sanjeev Tripathi, the son-in-law of the former RAW chief G S Bajpal (1990-91) is an Indian Public Service commissioned officer from UP and currently heading Aviation Research Centre. He is often described as the protégé of Mr Ashok Chaturvedi, being the sitting chief’s close friend. Tripathi has no region-specific expertise and stands out controversial for using backdoor channels and the position of his father-in-law. As the head of ARC Tripathi reportedly allowed his mentor, Chaturvedi and his wife Asha, unsanctioned use of helicopter to travel to temples around India on private visits. He is also known for his close relations with the influential Mauritian politicians Jaya Krishna Cuttaree and Paul Berenger, despite the fact that former is well-known for his hostile views towards India.
Reports have also been appearing in the Indian press saying that Mr. Tripathi’s wife, Mrs Neeta, had been involved in unauthorized use of cultural centre of the Indian High Commission in Mauritius where she had held numerous exhibitions of her paintings and transferred the money to India through a Hawala operation in order to avoid detection by revenue agencies. Tripathi also used his position within the organization to sideline his perceived rivals. Jayadev Ranade and Lt Col S Maladi, both regarded as exceptional and highly professional officers were honored out of the agency by Tripathy when Chatuvedi took over as RAW chief. Rana Banerjee is next aspirant who is an Indian Administrative Service officer from Assam and has been in the organization for over 25 years but has never been in charge of a cover operation instead doing desk jobs to work as an analyst. He served in Pakistan where he was stationed at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad and is considered to be longest serving Pakistan analyst within RAW. He is known for making inappropriate sexual gestures. In a recent incident Nisha Bhatia, a female RAW employee tried to commit suicide outside PM’s House due to sexual harassment by Banerjee and other colleagues including Chaturvedi. However Banerjee has a good rapport with the minister for external affairs, Pranab Mukherjee. Also Chaturvedi recommended his for the largely ceremonial post of chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee in order to get him out of the organization and pave way for Tripathi but Benerjee refused the offer. Names of Nachal Sandhu and K C Verma, from Intelligence Bureau, are also in the list for the post. Mr. Sandhu is a specialist on militant groups operations in the Held Kashmir and Mr. Verma, ex-Director Narcotics, is currently Secretary Security in the Cabinet Secretariat. Both are considered as capable officers, however they are unlikely to be well received within the organization being outsiders. Whatever is the decision taken or whoever replaces whom, the focus of RAW’s new chief would be to gear up, in RAW’s former additional secretary B Raman’s words, campaign aimed at exploiting the security situation inside Pakistan and fuelling insurgency in Balochistan and its Federal Administered Tribal Areas.
In his analysis appeared in India Today (January 12, page 10) and www.saag.org website, B. Raman suggest the Indian government not to go for a war against Pakistan and instead weaken it from within. He observes R&AW has seen a decline in its performance and has few counterterrorism experts. There’s a lack of investment in research and development and over-secrecy kills interaction with experts. Indira Gandhi had wanted it to be an action-oriented agency but since 1997, it has become a purely intelligence collection agency.
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