Even intelligence sleuths monitoring calls to and from Pakistan would be fooled into dismissing discussions about “schools” and “books” as student talk. Casual references to “valves” and “mechanics” wouldn’t arouse any suspicion either.
But revelations by an ISI agent before the Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) has startled his interrogators with fresh information regarding the modus operandi of terrorist outfits like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) as also the ISI which supports these groups.
ISI agent Imtiaz Ali Siddiqui alias Jhamti Babu, arrested from Kanpur, has told ATS officials that the operatives in his network used a code language in which “school” meant the Indian Army, “books” stood for sensitive documents stolen from the armed forces, “valve” meant sensitive information and “mechanic” was actually an agent.
Imtiaz, living under the guise of a TV mechanic, had been entrusted the task of setting up a fresh ISI network in UP with its base in Meerut. He hails from Jhansi in UP and had studied at a Lucknow degree college.
“He had been sending crucial information regarding army troops’ movement to his masters in Pakistan,” ATS chief AK Jain said. Imtiaz reportedly confessed to having sent loads of inputs on cantonments, army deployment and weaponry to the ISI.
An interesting input gleaned from Imtiaz is that the ISI is now recruiting well-educated young men from good families who are adept at working on computers. Imtiaz told the ATS that his son, who is doing his electronic engineering from an institute in Meerut, helped him send sensitive information related to army movements to Pakistan.
ATS officials have learnt that the ISI agents and other operatives it sponsored were hoodwinking security forces by entering UP from the east (Nepal border), while maintaining their base in west Uttar Pradesh. “This helped avoid detection as they travelled a long distance away from their entry point,” a police officer said.
An ATS official says Imtiaz corroborated most information revealed by Mohammad Aslam, a top LeT operative arrested in Delhi on August 25 with a Pakistani passport, a J&K voter ID card and explosives.
