ISLAMABAD: The leading newspaper of Sri Lanka, Daily Mirror, in its editorial has criticised the role the Indian intelligence agency (RAW) is playing in the regional countries to destabilise them. The editorial has specially referred to Pakistan.
It said: “Among its (RAW’s) most ambitious operations that are currently underway, is the move to separate Balochistan province from Pakistan by supporting (the) Balochistan Liberation Army.”
The newspaper wrote: “It certainly is a monumental task for the informed Sri Lankan or for that matter anyone in the neighbourhood of India to keep a straight face when talking about the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) in India.”
It said that formed in 1968, the predatory operations carried out by this external intelligence agency of India in the neighbouring countries were perhaps the best example as to how the country bullied its neighbours.
Commenting on the RAW’s role in Sri Lanka, it said: “The RAW in Sri Lanka has a pretty colourful record. Having raised, nursed and fortified the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, it later went through phases where it adopted ‘rock the baby, pinch the baby’ approach towards the LTTE.”
While many thought the assassination of former Indian premier Rajiv Gandhi would have hardened the approach of the RAW towards the LTTE, it really did not happen that way, it wrote.
“While New Delhi was shattered by the death of Nehru’s grandson, the less emotional RAW moved on with rest of operation,” it said.
The newspaper wrote: “In 2007, ripples were created in the spy agency when one of its Colombo-based officers, Ravi Nair of 1975 batch, was found allegedly carrying on an affair with a woman working for another country’s spy agency.
“The ‘crime’ was considered only second to what was committed by the RAW Joint Secretary, Rabinder Singh, in 2004 when he escaped with copies of several highly-confidential documents and is believed to have passed them on to the CIA. This was after Singh’s superiors confronted him with evidence that he had spent time with a Delhi-based female US embassy officer at a resort down (the) New Delhi-Jaipur highway.”
The newspaper said the incident really rocked the RAW and forced it to go for several reforms, which included tougher counter-check measures on its officers.
Following the embarrassment caused by Ravi Nair in Colombo, the RAW recalled the officer and made it a point to post a lady officer to Colombo, probably thinking that was the best way to discourage other countries, it wrote.
Reports that the RAW was out to create mischief in the backdrop of the recent military victories by the Sri Lankan troops surfaced days after media reports that Pottu Amman, who was pulled up by Prabhakaran over the recent debacles, had slipped off to India, the daily wrote..