Our late Prime Minister Morarji Desai blew India’s most critical covert operation, fully compromised our secret services, and helped Pakistan make the “Islamic bomb”.
Kao is a name that’s known the world over—the secret world of espionage. R.N. Kao was the man anointed as independent India’s spymaster to bell the international cat. This shrewd, sharp and surprisingly shy Kashmiri Brahmin (Ramji to his friends; Kao to his foes; R.N stood for Rameshwar Nath) was handpicked by Nehru himself to deal with matters too sensitive and important to be entrusted to the regular police or defence machinery. There couldn’t have been a better choice. Read his obituary, celebrating the man and the spy, carried by the British newspaper The Independent in February 2002 (Do a Google search for “obituary independent kao”).
Kao, who had joined the Imperial Police Service in 1940, donned the proverbial cloak and dagger on the 21st day of September, 1968, and thus was born the (in)famous Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s external intelligence agency, which then comprised 250 hand-picked agents and a meagre budget of Rs 20 million. Amongst these “researchers” and “analysts”, there were those who were trained to exist sans their shadows and these elitest-of-the-elite covert operatives were popularly known as “Kaoboys”. Of course, over the years, the agency has grown exponentially—both in terms of bodies and budget. However, as it was then, so it is now…its staff structure still remains shrouded in silence, and has been spared much investigative journalism. Of course, with the exception of two books, namely Inside RAW: The Story of India’s Secret Service by Asoka Raina and B. Raman’s memoir titled The Kaoboys of R&AW: Down Memory Lane.
To best understand who or what these Kaoboys were, one simply needs to watch the Tom Cruise starrer Mission Impossible, the first instalment of the ever-popular spy franchise. Remember the NOC list that the arms dealer “Max” was attempting to buy through a CIA mole, an operation codenamed “Job 3-14”, which was a reference to Chapter 3, Verse 14 from the Book of Job? NOC (pronounced as “knock”) is an acronym that stands for “Non-Official Cover”—covert deep-cover operatives involved in unofficial overseas operations. While official personnel have the safety net of diplomatic immunity, an NOC or a Kaoboy operates without one and if captured is often dubbed a “spy” and tortured/ imprisoned/ executed. Hence, to ensure the State’s plausible deniability, the NOC’s identity is supposed to be the State’s best-kept secret. Omertà—the code of silence—is not reserved only for the Sicilian Mafia.
According to Raina, the importance of intelligence can be traced all the way back to the Vedas, which talks about sapasah or spies with a thousand eyes. According to the Laws of Manu, “the king—with the help of spies—must collect intelligence pertaining to his own kingdom as well as enemy kingdoms’. The most in-depth text that deals with spies and espionage as instruments of the State is by Kautilya, the great Indian statesman-philosopher, in the Arthashastra, which talks of nine different classes of spies (and their various guises) spread over two categories—one more pervasive while the other more transitory, which also included the use of women spies. That’s right, our very own Mata Hari (the seductively famous female spy who was convicted of pro-German espionage and executed by France during World War I). According to Kautilya, a king needed espionage (including assassins) in order to successfully rule and expand his kingdom.
The Chanakya neeti of Sam-Daam-Dand-Bhed (negotiate-buy-punish-divide) is the strongest pillar in the world of intelligence and counter-intelligence.
Of course, as with every secret, there are times when the NOC list can indeed come out in the open. And in real life, unlike in reel life, there is seldom a Tom Cruise available to avert the catastrophe. And so, it was with Kao and his Kaoboys.
According to the writings of B. Raman (formerly a top officer in RAW) and the German author Heinz Duthel (Global Secret and Intelligence Services II), the man who inadvertently managed to play the mole was none other than our late Prime Minister Morarji Desai. He unwittingly—through a single act of indiscretion—accidentally managed to get every single one of our Kaoboys killed in Kahuta.
Operation Kahuta [ http://defence.pk/threads/top-10-amazing-raw-operations.281308/ ] was one of RAW’s most ambitious and daring covert operations overseas, inside Pakistan. Kahuta was the answer to India’s nuclear programme, the secret site for Pakistan’s nuclear programme. In fact, Kahuta was the answer to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s silent prayers, who as Pakistan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs had passionately vowed that Pakistan would build a nuclear bomb, even if the people had to eat grass (as he said in an interview with The Guardian in 1965). And so, under the leadershup of Dr. A. Q. Khan (often colourfully referred to as the “rogue scientist”) was born the “Islamic bomb”.
However, it is quite possible that the Kahuta Project may have remained just a distant dream and Pakistanis would have been spared their grass-eating spree. So, how did RAW discover Pakistan’s nuclear secret (in fact, we had even managed to beat the CIA)? RAW actually found the answer lying on the floor of a barber shop! By analyzing the hair samples of the scientists (collected from the barber shop near the plant), RAW discovered they had indeed developed the capability to enrich uranium to weapons-grade quality. And thus, unbeknownst to Pakistan, RAW managed to infiltrate the Kahuta plant in 1977.
In fact, in early 1978, the entire blueprint of the Kahuta nuclear plant was offered to India for a measly sum of $10,000 by one of RAW’s Pakistani agents. However, as dictated by protocol, RAW needed the PM’s approval. Unfortunately, Indira Gandhi (the woman who founded RAW) was no longer the PM. The Janata Party was in power, and Morarji Desai, as Prime Minister, now held the reins of RAW. Desai, who had a strong aversion to RAW, rejected the agency’s request.
And in a further and final act of betrayal, he inadvertently informed General Zia ul-Haq, who had usurped power in Pakistan by deposing Bhutto in July 1977, that India was well-aware of Kahuta and Pakistan’s nuclear programme. As it emerged from later reports, the military dictator went about eliminating every single one of our agents and assets, thus forever leaving us in the dark about Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme.
How was this achieved?
The wheels of fate had started turning in the year 1977. There were three major changes that occurred. One, Morarji Desai, who hated Indira Gandhi for humiliating him and taking control of the Congress, had become India’s Prime Minister. Two, General Zia led a successful military coup against Bhutto and anointed himself as Pakistan’ president. Three, a disillusioned Kao resigned.
With Morarji Desai as PM, RAW saw significant cutbacks in both budget and operations. (Desai’s actions were understandable. Indira Gandhi had used RAW to spy on the members of the so-called Congress “Syndicate”, including Desai.) In fact, Raina writes, “Prime Minister Morarji Desai was contemptuous of RAW and he believed that it was just another police force, and Kao resigned, saying it was pointless working for an intelligence agency if the PM had no faith in the business.” Kao’s resignation probably sealed the fate of the Kaoboys in Kahuta.
As shared by Raman in his memoir, General Zia would often make “friendly” calls to Desai. Zia was aware of Desai’s deep-rooted devotion to urine therapy. He would often call the Indian Prime Minister, asking him innocuous questions like “Excellency, how often should one drink the urine in a day?” or “Excellency, does it have to be the first urine or can one drink it at any time of the day?” or “Excellency, how much urine should one drink?”
Desai was sold. And thus, in an unguarded moment, he told Zia all there was to know about Operation Kahuta.
No wonder then, that Morarji Desai is the only Indian recipient of Pakistan’s highest civilian award, the Nishaan-e-Pakistan. You can’t blame General Zia for ingratitude!
Mallika is a professor-cum-author, doing her PhD in marketing from IIT Kharagpur, and author of three management books which are prescribed textbooks in universities across India. She has taught in India and abroa
{ Mallika Nawal is a professor-cum-author, doing her PhD in marketing from IIT Kharagpur, and author of three management books which are prescribed textbooks in universities across India. She has taught in India and abroad. She is also the author of the crime novel I’m a Woman & I’m on SALE. }
Our late Prime Minister Morarji Desai blew India’s most critical covert operation, fully compromised our secret services, and helped Pakistan make the “Islamic bomb”.
Kao is a name that’s known the world over—the secret world of espionage. R.N. Kao was the man anointed as independent India’s spymaster to bell the international cat. This shrewd, sharp and surprisingly shy Kashmiri Brahmin (Ramji to his friends; Kao to his foes; R.N stood for Rameshwar Nath) was handpicked by Nehru himself to deal with matters too sensitive and important. x There couldn’t have been a better choice. Read his obituary carried by the British newspaper The Independent in February 2002 (Do a Google search for “obituary independent kao”).
Birth of RAW - The brain child of Kao.
Kao, who had joined the Imperial Police Service in 1940, donned the proverbial cloak and dagger on the 21st day of September, 1968, and thus was born the (in)famous Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s external intelligence agency, which then comprised 250 hand-picked agents and a meagre budget of Rs 20 million. Amongst these “researchers” and “analysts”, there were those who were trained to exist sans their shadows and these elitest-of-the-elite covert operatives were popularly known as “Kao boys”. Of course, over the years, the agency has grown exponentially—both in terms of bodies and budget. However, as it was then, so it is now…its staff structure still remains shrouded in silence, and has been spared much investigative journalism. xxxxx
To best understand who or what these Kaoboys were, one simply needs to watch the Tom Cruise starrer Mission Impossible, the first instalment of the ever-popular spy franchise. xxx While official personnel have the safety net of diplomatic immunity, an NOC or a Kaoboy operates without immunity and if captured is often dubbed a “spy” and tortured/ imprisoned/ executed. Hence, to ensure the State’s plausible deniability, the NOC’s identity is supposed to be the State’s best-kept secret. Omertà—the code of silence—is not reserved only for the Sicilian Mafia.
According to Raina, the importance of intelligence can be traced all the way back to the Vedas, which talks about sapasah or spies with a thousand eyes. xxxx
The Chanakya neeti of Sam-Daam-Dand-Bhed (negotiate-buy-punish-divide) is the strongest pillar in the world of intelligence and counter-intelligence.
Of course, as with every secret, there are times when the NOC list can indeed come out in the open. And in real life, unlike in reel life, there is seldom a Tom Cruise available to avert the catastrophe. And so, it was with Kao and his Kaoboys.
The Morarji Damage.
According to the writings of B. Raman (formerly a top officer in RAW) and the German author Heinz Duthel (Global Secret and Intelligence Services II), the man who inadvertently managed to play the mole was none other than our late Prime Minister Morarji Desai. He unwittingly—through a single act of indiscretion—accidentally managed to get every single one of our Kaoboys killed in Kahuta.
RAW's Secret Nuclear Operation - Kahuta.
Operation Kahuta was one of RAW’s most ambitious and daring covert operations overseas, inside Pakistan. Kahuta was the xx secret site for Pakistan’s nuclear programme. In fact, Kahuta was the answer to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s silent prayers, who as Pakistan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs had passionately vowed that Pakistan would build a nuclear bomb, even if the people had to eat grass (as he said in an interview with The Guardian in 1965). And so, under the leadershup of Dr. A. Q. Khan (often colourfully referred to as the “rogue scientist”) was born the “Islamic bomb”.
Hair sample analysis lead to discovery of Pak Nuclear programme !!!
However, it is quite possible that the Kahuta Project may have remained just a distant dream and Pakistanis would have been spared their grass-eating spree. So, how did RAW discover Pakistan’s nuclear secret (in fact, we had even managed to beat the CIA)? RAW actually found the answer lying on the floor of a barber shop! By analyzing the hair samples of the scientists (collected from the barber shop near the plant), RAW discovered they had indeed developed the capability to enrich uranium to weapons-grade quality. And thus, unbeknownst to Pakistan, RAW managed to infiltrate the Kahuta plant in 1977.
The Morarji Blunder of Rejection.
In fact, in early 1978, the entire blueprint of the Kahuta nuclear plant was offered to India for a measly sum of $10,000 by one of RAW’s Pakistani agents. However, as dictated by protocol, RAW needed the PM’s approval. Unfortunately, Indira Gandhi (the woman who founded RAW) was no longer the PM. The Janata Party was in power, and Morarji Desai, as Prime Minister, now held the reins of RAW. Desai, who had a strong aversion to RAW, rejected the agency’s request.
And in a further and final act of betrayal, he inadvertently informed General Zia ul-Haq xx thatIndia was well-aware of Kahuta and Pakistan’s nuclear programme. As it emerged from later reports, the military dictator went about eliminating every single one of our agents and assets, thus forever leaving us in the dark about Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme.
Factors that lead to disaster.
The wheels of fate had started turning in the year 1977. There were three major changes that occurred. One, Morarji Desai, who hated Indira Gandhi for humiliating him and taking control of the Congress, had become India’s Prime Minister. Two, General Zia led a successful military coup against Bhutto and anointed himself as Pakistan’ president. Three, a disillusioned Kao resigned.
PMs with out Military or security back ground are a national liability - Example : Morarji.
With Morarji Desai as PM, RAW saw significant cutbacks in both budget and operations. (Desai’s actions were understandable from one angle - Indira Gandhi had used RAW to spy on the members of the so-called Congress “Syndicate”, including Desai.) In fact, Raina writes, “Prime Minister Morarji Desai was contemptuous of RAW and he believed that it was just another police force, and Kao resigned, saying it was pointless working for an intelligence agency, if the PM had no faith in the business.” Kao’s resignation probably sealed the fate of the Kaoboys in Kahuta.
Gen Zia's sly approach - Morarji slipped that costs India dearly.
As shared by Raman in his memoir, General Zia would often make “friendly” calls to Desai. Zia was aware of Desai’s deep-rooted devotion to urine therapy. He would often call the Indian Prime Minister, asking him innocuous questions like “Excellency, how often should one drink the urine in a day?” or “Excellency, does it have to be the first urine or can one drink it at any time of the day?” or “Excellency, how much urine should one drink?” Desai was sold.
And thus, in an unguarded moment, he told Zia all there was to know about Operation Kahuta !!
No wonder then, that Morarji Desai is the only Indian recipient of Pakistan’s highest civilian award, the Nishaan-e-Pakistan.
You can’t blame General Zia for ingratitude!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
FURTHER READING
10. Amalgamation of Sikkim
Bordered by Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and West Bengal in the Eastern Himalayas, Sikkim was ruled right from Indian Independence by a Maharaja. The Indian Government had recognized the title of Chogyal (Dharma Raja) for the Maharaja of Sikkim. In 1972, RAW was authorized by Indira Gandhi to install a pro-Indian democratic government there. In less than three years, Sikkim became the 22nd State of the Indian Union, on April 26, 1975.
9. Operation Smiling Buddha Operation Smiling Buddha was the name given to India’s nuclear Programme. The task to keep it under tight wraps for security was given to RAW. This was the first time that RAW was involved in a project inside India. On 18 May 1974, India detonated a 15-kiloton plutonium device at Pokhran and became a member of the nuclear club. All international intelligence agencies remained in dark about Indian nuclear weapons programs until then.
8. Special Operations
After successfully, separating Bangladesh from Pakistan, RAW tried to destabilize Pakistan and separate Baluchistan from it. In the mid 1980’s, RAW set up two covert groups, Counterintelligence Team-X (CIT-X) and Counterintelligence Team-J (CIT-J), the first directed at Pakistan and the second at Khalistani groups(funded by ISI to separate Punjab from India). Rabinder Singh, the RAW double agent who defected to the United States in 2004, helped run CIT-J in its early years. Both these covert groups used the services of cross-border traffickers to ferry weapons and funds across the border, much as their ISI counterparts were doing. According to former RAW official and noted security analyst B. Raman, the Indian counter-campaign yielded results. “The role of our cover action capability in putting an end to the ISI’s interference in Punjab”, he wrote in 2002, “by making such interference prohibitively costly is little known and understood.” These covert operations were discontinued during the tenure of IK Gujral and were never restarted. B Raman the former RAW cabinet secretary, such covert operations were successful in keeping a check on ISI and were “responsible for ending the Khalistani insurgency.” He also notes that a lack of such covert capabilities, since they were closed down in 1997, has left the country even more vulnerable than before and says that developing covert capabilities is the need of the hour.
7. Snatch operations with IB
In late 2009, investigative journal, The Week ran a cover story on one of India’s major clandestine operations that the R&AW ran with Intelligence Bureau to nab terrorists infiltrating India via Nepal and other neighboring countries. In order to bypass the lengthy extradition process, RAW conducts snatch operations to nab suspects from various foreign countries. The suspect is brought to India, interrogated and is usually produced before a court. With emergence of Nepal as a terror transit point, RAW and the IB (Intelligence Bureau) started closely monitoring the movement of suspected terrorists in Nepal. According to The Week in last decade there has been close to 400 successful snatch operations conducted by RAW and/or IB in Nepal, Bangladesh and other countries. Some famous snatch netted Bhupinder Singh Bhuda of the Khalistan Commando Force, Lashkar militant Tariq Mehmood, Sheikh Abdul Khwaja, one of the handlers of the 26/11 attacks, etc. Most of the suspects are kept at Tihar Jail.
6. Intelligence on 2008 Mumbai Attacks
About two to six months before 26/11 Mumbai attacks, R&AW had intercepted several telephone calls through SIGINT, which pointed at impending attacks on Mumbai Hotels by Pakistan based terrorists, however there was a coordination failure and no follow up action was taken. Few hours before the attacks, R&AW technician monitoring satellite transmissions picked up conversations between attackers and handlers, as the attackers were sailing toward Mumbai. The technician flagged the conversations as being suspicious and passed them on to his superiors. RAW believed that they were worrying and immediately alerted the office of the National Security Advisor. However the intelligence was ignored. Later, just after the terrorists had attacked Mumbai, RAW technicians started monitoring the six phones used by the terrorists and recorded conversations between the terrorists and their handlers. On January 15, 2010, in a successful snatch operation, RAW agents nabbed Sheikh Abdul Khwaja, one of the handlers of the 26/11 attacks, chief of HuJI India operations and a most wanted terror suspect in India, from Colombo, Sri Lanka and brought them over to Hyderabad, India for formal arrest.
5. Operation Leech
Surrounded by Arakans and dense forest, Myanmar because of its Military Dictatorship had always been a worrisome point for Indian intelligence. As the major player in the area, India has sought to promote democracy and install friendly governments in the region. To these ends, RAW cultivated Burmese rebel groups and pro-democracy coalitions, especially the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). India allowed the KIA to carry a limited trade in jade (ornamental stone) and precious stones using Indian Territory and even supplied them with weapons. It is further alleged that KIA chief Maran Brang Seng met the R&AW chief in Delhi twice. However, when the KIA became the main source of training and weapons for all northeastern Indian rebel groups, RAW initiated an operation, code named Operation Leech, to assassinate the leaders of RAW trained Burmese rebels to set an example to other groups. Six top rebel leaders, including military wing chief of National Unity Party of Arakans (NUPA), Khaing Raza, were shot dead and 34 Arakanese guerrillas were arrested and charged with gunrunning.
4. Operation Chanakya
Operation Chanakya was the RAW operation in the Kashmir to infiltrate various ISI-backed Kashmiri separatist groups and restore peace in the Kashmir valley. R&AW operatives infiltrated the area, collected military intelligence, and provided evidence about ISI’s involvement in training and funding Kashmiri separatist groups. RAW was successful not only in unearthing the links between the ISI and the separatist groups, but also in infiltrating and neutralizing the militancy in the Kashmir valley. RAW is also credited for creating a split in the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. Operation Chanakya also marked the creation of pro-Indian groups in Kashmir like the Ikhwan-ul-Muslimeen, Muslim Mujahideen, etc. These counter-insurgencies consist of ex-militants and relatives of those slain in the conflict. Ikhwan-ul-Muslimeen leader Kokka Parrey was himself assassinated by separatists.
3. Sri Lanka
RAW started training, LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) to keep a check on Sri Lanka, which had helped Pakistan in the Indo-Pak War by allowing Pakistani ships to refuel at Sri Lankan ports. However, the LTTE created a lot of problems and complications and the then Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi was forced to send the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in 1987 to restore normalcy in the region. The disastrous mission of the IPKF was blamed by many on the lack of coordination between the IPKF and RAW. Its most disastrous manifestation was the Helicopter assault on LTTE HQ in the Jaffna University campus in the opening stages of Operation Pawan. The site was chosen without any prior consultation with the RAW. The dropping paratroopers became easy targets for the LTTE. A number of soldiers were killed. The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi is also blamed as fallout of the failed RAW operation in Sri Lanka.
2. Creation of Bangladesh and Aftermath
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In the early 1970s, the army of Pakistan prosecuted a bloody military crackdown in response to the Bangladeshi independence movement. Nearly 10 million refugees fled to India. The R&AW’s Bangladeshi independence movement began in early 1970 by sowing discord among the disgruntled population of Bangladesh (then called East Pakistan), suffering repression by the Pakistani political establishment. This led to the creation of the Mukti Bahini (Liberation Army of Bengali resistance movement). RAW was responsible for supplying information and heavy ammunition to this organization that led to Bangladesh War, its independence and later self-governance within months. Even USA hasn’t been successful at achieving this in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, within months of independence of Bangladesh, Mujibur Rahman (First President) was assassinated at his residence. R&AW operatives claim that they had advance information about Mujib-ur-Rahman’s assassination, but he tragically ignored R&AW’s inputs. He was killed along with 40 members of his family. R&AW thus failed to prevent the assassination, which led to the loss of a charismatic leader who had a soft corner for India after all they had done for his country’s independence. However, R&AW has successfully thwarted plans of assassinating Sheikh Hasina Wazed, daughter of Mujibur Rahman, by Islamist extremists and the ISI.
1. Operation Kahuta
Operation Kahuta is regarded by many as one of the most daring operation ever conducted by RAW. The only reason it failed was due to a grave blunder by an Indian Prime Minister. Kahuta is the site of the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), Pakistan’s main nuclear weapons laboratory as well as an emerging center for long-range missile development. The primary Pakistani fissile-material production facility is located at Kahuta, employing gas centrifuge enrichment technology to produce Highly Enriched Uranium (necessary for nuclear weapons). RAW first confirmed Pakistan’s nuclear programs by analyzing the hair samples of scientists snatched from the floor of barber shops near KRL; which showed that Pakistan had developed the ability to enrich uranium to weapons-grade quality. R&AW agents knew of Kahuta Research Laboratories from at least early 1978, when the then Indian Prime Minister, Morarji Desai stopped RAWs operations on Pakistan’s covert nuclear weapons program (because it was started by Indira Gandhi). In an indiscreet moment in a telephone conversation one day, Morarji Desai informed the then Pakistan President, Zia-ul-Haq, that India was aware of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program. According to later reports, acting on this “tip-off”, Pakistani Intelligence eliminated RAW’s agents on Kahuta, leaving India in the dark about Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program from then on.
Out of these 10,there have been Reports in Pakistani Media of RAW’s involvement in freedom struggle of Balochistan .India has denied it and no one knows the truth . Its true that ISI is certainly afraid of RAW and reporters of Pakistani media shows the chill that RAW sends them.
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