Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The country was shocked to learn in May that the joint secretary in the Research 038; Analysis Wing RAW, Rabinder Singh, had managed to quietly flee the country despite being under official surveillance for passing on sensitive information to the CIA. But what is more shocking, perhaps, is that despite the serious implications of Rabinder Singh8217;s disappearance, there appears no discernible movement on the part of the government to trace him, declare him a proclaimed offender and bring him to justice or, at the very least, assess the damage the man has done to the country8217;s interests and that of the organisation he was supposedly working for. It appears that the authorities are more keen on a damage control exercise than in setting their intelligence operations in order. RAW8217;s quiescence indicates its own fear of exposure.
Nobody disputes the fact that intelligence agencies have necessarily to operate in the world of shadows, but when its incompetence becomes public knowledge 8212; as in its ham-handed handling of the Kargil intrusions in the summer of 1999, or in the disappearance of one of its key operatives five years later 8212; trotting out the old line about national security interests in order to justify its opaqueness just does not wash. The US Senate Intelligence Committee thought nothing of publicly putting the CIA through the wringer for its shoddy handling of intelligence on the 9/11 attacks. Why then should the Indian government be pussyfooting its way through this mess?
