Pakistani ‘doctor’ crosses over, police suspect he is a spy

In what is being suspected as an attempt by Pakistan to send a ‘spy’ across the border, a Pakistani national claiming to be a doctor who felt “ideologically suffocated...

In what is being suspected as an attempt by Pakistan to send a ‘spy’ across the border, a Pakistani national claiming to be a doctor who felt “ideologically suffocated” in his own country has been nabbed after he crossed over to Indian territory on July 13 near Hindumalkot in Ganganagar district of Rajasthan.

On seeing the BSF soldiers, police claimed, he took off his white shirt, started waiving it in the air and shouted: “Help!” But 10 days after the incident, the authorities are still sceptical.

The Indian Express has learnt that after receiving a joint interrogation report from local intelligence, military intelligence and the Intelligence Bureau, the Ganganagar police on Tuesday wrote to Inspector General (Police Security), Rajasthan, requesting officials there to question the man at the Central Interrogation Centre (CIC) in Jaipur.

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“After receiving the joint interrogation report, I have written to the IG for Jameel’s interrogation at CIC, Jaipur,” confirmed Ganganagar SSP Alok Vashisht.

Identified as Tayyab Tahit Jameel, 27, from a village in Sialkot on the basis of a photo identity card recovered from his possession, the Pakistani claims to be a certified doctor posted at a rural dispensary in Pakistan.

He told the intelligence agencies interrogating him that he was feeling “ideologically suffocated due to fundamentalism” in Pakistan and after being refused a visa to some other countries, including India in 2005, he decided to cross over illegally.

Some US dollars, Pakistani currency, a screwdriver and a pay slip showing him to be drawing Rs 27,000 as his salary were reportedly recovered from Jameel, after he was taken into possession by BSF personnel, moments after he stepped into Indian territory.

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Highly placed sources told The Indian Express that to authenticate his claims of being a doctor, Jameel was questioned by civil doctors as well as military doctors to check whether he was really a medical professional.

“Yes, he was grilled by doctors. But, he answered all the queries to their satisfaction,” revealed Ganganagar Additional SP CID Ram Gopal Vishnu, who was among the officers who conducted the joint interrogation on Jameel. Vishnu added, however, that Jameel’s claims of “ideological suffocation” were difficult to buy, even though the illegal alien insisted that he had shunned Islam to become an atheist.

The police also believed that his stash of US dollars and the pay slip were suspicious.

Jameel is learnt to have told interrogators that, earlier, he had been legally applying for visas to countries like China, Australia and India, but his requests were turned down. Jameel told interrogators that he was single.

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A police official posted at Hindumalkot police station told The Indian Express that after being handed over to the police by the BSF, Jameel in his initial interrogation claimed he walked about 16 km from Bhawalpur village in Pakistan to cross over to Indian territory.

Wishing not to be named, the official added that Jameel claimed he came to Bhawal Nagar, a tehsil in Pakistan, via train from Sialkot and then took a bus from there to reach Bhawalpur village.