ISI has managed to bolster Maoist activities

The arrest of Vinay Kumar and Devaiah alias Sachin revealed that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan had made fresh plans to boost Maoist activity in India, and is using Nepalese territory for the purpose.

One intelligence source said, “Nepal poses a huge problem for India, as Maoists armed to the teeth and specially trained can be sent into the country from there, ready to strike at any time. There is also easy access to India from the border with Nepal.”

While the ISI initially trained Pakistani youth and then sent them across the border into India to perpetrate acts of terror, it has changed tack since the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. The links of those terrorists to Pakistan was established beyond doubt with great ease, with the capture, alive, of one of the terrorists, Mohammad Ajmal Kasab.

“They have started recruiting people within India to conduct terror activities at the behest of the ISI. This strategy too has been hard to keep up, as some youth were gunned down while crossing international borders in Jammu and Kashmir. Once the terrorists come within the radar of Indian security forces, they are immediately dropped and fresh recruits are sought,” a source said.

“Change of strategy works well within the operational capacity of the ISI. If they stick to one particular mode of terror strikes, there is every possibility that the men will be caught. So there is need to constantly revise strategy, and that is what is happening,” said one source.

Strengthening the Maoists in India would serve to unleash subversive activity within India; that is the strategy that is being followed by the ISI, indicate intelligence sources. “We do not know if there are others already in touch with Maoists in other states for funding in a manner similar to that revealed by these arrests,” said one security official.

As the ISI attempts to make newer forays into India, there are some things that the security agencies need to be especially wary of, warn intelligence sources.

The heightened violence in Chhattisgarh and the recent spells of attacks on security personnel there shows that if indeed the ISI has managed to establish connections and bolster the activity of the Maoists, it has been meeting success.