The India Spy

Khushwant Singh wrote in the preface to the hardbound edition published in 1990 of this true account of Mohanlal Bhaskar’s mission to find out about Pakistan’s nuclear plans: ‘He was betrayed by one of his colleagues, presumbly a double agent, and had to face the music on his own. The interrogation, which was done by the army and police, included torture of the worst kind imaginable. Many of his comrades went insane or ended their own lives. Large portions of his stories describe the methods used in gory and spine-chilling detail but there were also lighter moments with dacoits, prostitutes, pimps and dope smugglers in the same jails....’ He witnessed history unfolding from Mianwali jail: ‘... when Sheikh Mujibur Rehman was brought there, and had his grave dug and then refilled when Bhutto released him to return in truimph to Bangladesh. From his cell he watched Indian bombers and fighters knock out Pakistan’s airforce from the skies...’

Pointing to the horizon where the sea and sky are joined, he says, 'It is only an illusion because they can't really meet, but isn't it beautiful, this union which isn't really there.' -- SAADAT HASAN MANTO Sometime in 2016, a series of dialogues took place which set out to find a meeting ground, even if only an illusion, between A.S. Dulat and Asad Durrani. One was a former chief of RAW, India's external intelligence agency, the other of ISI, its Pakistani counterpart. As they could not meet in their home countries, the conversations, guided by journalist Aditya Sinha, took place in cities like Istanbul, Bangkok and Kathmandu.On the table were subjects that have long haunted South Asia, flashpoints that take lives regularly. It was in all ways a deep dive into the politics of the subcontinent, as seen through the eyes of two spymasters. Among the subjects: Kashmir, and a missed opportunity for peace; Hafiz Saeed and 26/11; Kulbhushan Jadhav; surgical strikes; the deal for Osama bin Laden; how the US and Russia feature in the India-Pakistan relationship; and how terror undermines the two countries' attempts at talks.When the project was first mooted, General Durrani laughed and said nobody would believe it even if it was written as fiction. At a time of fraught relations, this unlikely dialogue between two former spy chiefs from opposite sides--a project that is the first of its kind--may well provide some answers.

The emotional stories of the secert agents compiled in this book unveil the tragic fact that the agents mentioned therein were rewarded with hellish lives in their sunset years after they returned having ruined their youth in jails for years at length. For their livelihood, some of them had to pull rickshaws while some others had to work as labourers. Some of them were so traumatised that they lost their mental balance. But, as has been explained earlier, this is what the rule of this game is and that probably may not change in the years to come. The life of a spy is not like that of James Bond. They are just ordinary people performing extraordinary tasks. They are never required to disclose to anybody that they are secret agents, as they are not permitted to do that.

A top scientist is falsely accused of selling space technology secrets. A police inspector's misadventure with a Maldivian woman results in a fabricated espionage case. A faction within a political party capitalises on the case to bring down a government. An intelligence agency obligingly plays into the hands of vested interests to slow down India's space programme. And a complex investigation finally proves the allegations untrue. In this riveting book, Isro scientist S Nambi Narayanan - who was falsely accused of espionage in ISRO spy case of the 1990s - and senior journalist Arun Ram meticulously unpick the ISRO spy case, revisit old material and discover new details to expose the international plot that delayed India's development of a cryogenic engine by at least a decade. It took four years for the CBI to exonerate Nambi, but his fight for justice to ensure action against the officers who faked the case and tortured him in custody continues. This book is as much a history of the early days of India's ambitious space programme as it is a record of one of the most sensational cases that enthralled the nation long before the era of online updates and 24-hour news cycles.

Spies in the Himalayas chronicles for the first time the details of these expeditions sanctioned by U.S. and Indian intelligence, telling the story of clandestine climbs and hair-raising exploits. Led by legendary Indian mountaineer Mohan S. Kohli, conqueror of Everest, the mission was beset by hazardous climbs, weather delays, aborted attempts, and even missing radioactive materials that may or may not still pose contamination threat to Indian rivers.

In India, the system of espionage is as old as the Rigveda. It has developed into a sophisticated political art. 'Spies are the eyes of Kings' is a proverbial saying current among the people from time immemorial. In her work, the author has emphasised on the existence of spy system from the early vedic period. The spies seem to have been largely employed then not merely to ascertain validity or invalidity in the statements of parties and witnesses, but also to gather correct and reliable information as to the movements of tribal settlements of inimical tendency or disposition. It is an indispensable adjunct of foreign policy and also an important instrument of serving the government. Kautilya envisaged a well-knit system of espionage. The author has included a separate chapter on diplomacy and diplomatic agents. As spying and diplomacy work together and the duties and functions of spies and diplomats overlap and coincide. The ancient Indian spy system was so developed and organised that till today, it is a perennial source of inspiration and more useful basis for the modern intelligence system. This book will be useful not only to readers for History but scholars working in the field of Political Science, Military Science, Administration, Diplomacy etc. Moreover, it is a treasure house of important information for the students preparing for competitive examinations. It is a learned attempt for the in-depth.