New Delhi:
Pakistan's notorious spy agency ISI has secretly sent four top members to Dhaka, raising a red flag in New Delhi. Acknowledging the development, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday that India is closely monitoring developments in its immediate environment, especially those affecting national security. If necessary, “appropriate measures” will be taken, the Foreign Ministry said.
Pakistan's spy agency ISI's Director General of Analysis Major General Shahid Amir Afsar and other senior officials are reportedly currently visiting Bangladesh. The visit follows a military delegation from Bangladesh visiting Rawalpindi and meeting the chiefs of the army, air force and navy.
“We are monitoring all activities across the country and in the region, as well as any activities that affect our national security, and the government will take appropriate steps,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in response to a query about fast service. growing military involvement between Bangladesh and Pakistan.
ISI OFFICIALS IN DHAKA
According to a report in Hindustan Times, less than a week after a military delegation from Bangladesh toured Pakistan and met all three service chiefs, Rawalpindi has sent four senior officers, including a two-star ISI general, to Dhaka. The report, which attributes the development to unnamed sources familiar with the matter, said Major General Shahid Amir Afsar, who is the director general of analysis at the ISI and has served as Pakistan's defense attaché in Beijing, part is part of the delegation.
The six-member Bangladeshi delegation that visited Rawalpindi – the city where Pakistan's military headquarters are located – was led by Lieutenant General SM Kamrul Hasan, the chief staff officer of the Bangladesh Armed Forces Division. Pakistan's army chief, General Asim Munir, reportedly met them for extensive talks. The Bangladeshi delegation stayed in Pakistan between January 13 and 18.
Photo credit: YouTube/ISPR Official
Just three days later, on January 21, Rawalpindi secretly sent a high-ranking delegation to Dhaka. This was the first time in almost twenty years that the ISI officially went to Bangladesh. A senior official of Bangladesh's Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) received them at the airport upon their arrival aboard an Emirates Airlines flight via Dubai.
The ISI team will be given a detailed tour of various military establishments in Bangladesh and will reportedly be briefed on Dhaka's military capabilities and preparedness.
Amid these visits by both sides, the Pakistan Army's media wing – the Inter-Services Public Relations or ISPR – released a statement, writing that the meeting between Bangladesh's Lieutenant General SM Kamrul Hasan and the Pakistan Chief Army, General Asim, Munir “underlined the importance of a stronger defense relationship and emphasized that the enduring partnership between the two brotherly nations must remain resilient to external influences.”
WHEN ISI ACTIVITY WAS STOPPED IN BANGLADESH
When Sheikh Hasina was Prime Minister, all activities of Pakistan's ISI were abruptly halted due to their covert activities and political interference in Bangladesh, as well as their support to extremist elements. Under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina, several people were arrested and prosecuted for their involvement and conspiracy with the ISI during the 1971 Bangladesh war.
But since Sheikh Hasina's ouster, the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus has accelerated military ties with Pakistan. In the 1990s, when terror camps spread across Pakistan and were used on foreign soil as 'an instrument of state policy', as highlighted by India at the United Nations, the ISI even used Bangladeshi soil to fuel militancy and insurgency in the northeastern states of finance India. This was also dealt with harshly by Sheikh Hasina when she first came to power in 1996.