ISI | Business Upturn

Indian Embassy Employee Arrested in Meerut for Alleged Espionage on Behalf of ISI

Aditya Bhagchandani — Sun, 04 Feb 2024 18:54:49 +0000

The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has apprehended Satendra Siwal, an employee of the Indian Embassy in Moscow, in Meerut, for his alleged involvement in espionage on behalf of Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI. Siwal, identified as a Multi-Tasking Staff (MTS) in the Ministry of External Affairs, was reportedly lured by ISI handlers offering financial incentives in exchange for sensitive information related to the Indian Army.

The ATS initiated the operation based on intelligence received from confidential sources, indicating that ISI was attempting to recruit Indian Ministry of External Affairs employees for obtaining critical information. The information exchanged was deemed to pose a significant threat to India’s internal and external security.

Hailing from Shahmahiuddinpur village in Hapur, Siwal was accused of exploiting his position within the Indian Embassy in Moscow to extract confidential documents. Motivated by financial gain, he allegedly shared critical information concerning the strategic activities of the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of External Affairs, and Indian military establishments with ISI handlers.

“The ATS was receiving intelligence from various confidential sources that the handlers of the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI, through some persons, were luring the employees of the Ministry of External Affairs with money to obtain strategically and strategically important information related to the Indian Army that is likely to pose a huge threat to the internal and external security of India,” stated the ATS in an official statement.

Following extensive intelligence gathering and surveillance, Siwal was interrogated at the ATS Field Unit in Meerut. Failing to provide satisfactory answers, he eventually confessed to his involvement in spy activities. Siwal had been serving as an India Based Security Assistant (IBSA) at the Indian Embassy in Moscow since 2021.

An FIR has been registered against Siwal under sections related to waging war against the country and the Official Secrets Act. The Ministry of External Affairs acknowledged Siwal’s arrest and is collaborating with investigative authorities in the ongoing case.

Indian Intelligence uncovers Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s hidden link with ISI

Vanshika Lodhi — Sat, 23 Sep 2023 05:43:16 +0000

Indian Intelligence has uncovered an old link between Hardeep Singh Nijjar and Pakistan’s ISI. Earlier this week, a new wave of tension arose between India and Canada. This was triggered by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s startling claims about the possible involvement of Indian operatives in the assassination of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The incident took place in British Columbia on June 18. It’s worth noting that Nijjar was labelled as a terrorist by India in 2020.

India vehemently dismissed these accusations as “baseless” and “politically driven”. In response to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official over this issue, India retaliated by expelling a high-ranking Canadian diplomat.

Adding a new twist to the story, Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, has urged India to collaborate with Canada and ensure “responsibility” for Nijjar’s death is established.

Trudeau has echoed this sentiment, urging India to assist in the investigation. In contrast, India has responded strongly against Canada by downsizing its diplomatic staff and suspending visa services.

Army, ISI link PTI to journalist’s killing

United News of India (UNI) — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 11:34:52 +0000

The Pakistan Army and the country’s powerful intelligence agency ISI on Thursday tried to link former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party PTI with the killing in Kenya of a Pakistani journalist who is said to have fled the country after receiving death threats.

Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum joined Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Babar Iftikhar at a press conference here to speak about Arshad Sharif’s killing and Imran Khan’s “confrontational narrative against the military”.

This is the first time in Pakistan’s history that the head of the spy agency has directly addressed the media.

The officer said they were meeting the media so that “facts, fiction and opinion can be differentiated” and added that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had been “specially informed” about the sensitivity of the press conference.

“Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa was also targeted and faced criticism. An attempt was made to create a divide in society.”

Gen Iftikhar said journalist Sharif’s death was an “unfortunate incident” and called him an “icon of journalism in Pakistan”.

He said that Sharif and other journalists were fed a particular narrative and an attempt was made to defame Pakistan and the country’s institutions.

“In this media trial, ARY News played the role of a spin doctor in targeting the army and promoting a false narrative.”

He noted that Sharif made strong comments regarding the army during this time but added that “we did not have any negative sentiments about him and we don’t have such feelings now”.

The officer said that a Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) splinter group was looking to target Sharif, according to a provincial government headed by Imran Khan’s PTI.

The officer also questioned who was in contact with Sharif from Pakistan and who was hosting him in Kenya.

“Kenyan police accepted their mistake and it has to be examined whether this is a case of mistaken identity or one of targeted killing. There are several questions that have to be answered,” he said, calling for a “transparent and fair probe”.

Talking about Sharif, the ISI chief said he was a “competent, hardworking and able journalist”. “Some quarters may have differences with his political views but his dedication for work is undeniable.”

But he insisted that Sharif did not face any threat in Pakistan. “We had no personal enmity with him.”

ISI chief General Faiz Hameed held a meeting attended by multiple nations, including China and Russia for “lasting peace and stability”

News Desk — Sun, 12 Sep 2021 05:27:01 +0000

On Saturday a meeting was being organized in Islamabad by Pakistan’s intelligence chief General Faiz Hameed, the director-general of the notorious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) along with intelligence heads of multiple nations, including China and Russia, in which the evolving situation in Afghanistan was being discussed.

The meeting, held by the director-general of the ISI, certainly took place and it was attended by the intelligence chiefs of China, Russia, Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Views were being shared regarding the measures needed for “lasting peace and stability” in the region by the members present in the meeting.

After the Taliban’s lightning-fast offensive won the militant’s control of the state machinery in the war-torn land, Pakistan has been seen looking to get engaged in the situation which developed in Afghanistan. Among widespread opinion for its ‘proxy war’ in Afghanistan, a special significance in light of the debilitating political and economic scenario in Kabul has been now taken on by the Pakistani intelligence chief’s meeting with his counterparts in other countries.

“The participants of the occasional meet acknowledged that Afghanistan ‘should not be left alone’ to deal with its problems. The development takes a compelling outlook for Afghanistan experts and political observers, many of who believe that it was, in fact, Islamabad which was behind the Taliban’s aggressive advance against the erstwhile Ashraf Ghani government’s forces in August. They also say Islamabad has been assisting the Taliban on all possible fronts, hoping to cut a piece of the pie in the new regime,” said the Pakistani news channel SAMAA TV.

Recently a visit has been done by the ISI chief Hameed to Afghanistan who met with the Taliban leadership in Kabul to talk over the issues. After the Visit, it was seen that the Taliban has announced their interim government a hardline all-male cabinet let done the group’s earlier promises to be comprehensive and adequate to a measure.

Delhi&UP: The ED raids 6 places for illegal religious conversion to Islam

Aayushi Singh — Sat, 03 Jul 2021 10:28:54 +0000

On Sunday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted six raids in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in a connection with a recent allegation for forcing the conversion of poor and deaf students to Islam with funding from abroad.

The raids had been conducted at various locations in the national capital and adjoining states as confirmed by the officials. During the raids, several documents had been recovered which revealed that Mohammad Umar Gautam had conducted large scale religious conversions along with his organisations throughout India. The accused organisations had received several crores of foreign funding for the sole purpose of these illegal conversions.

The UP police’s ATS had arrested Umar Gautam earlier, who ran the Islamic Dawah Centre (IDC) outfit along with this associate Mufti Qazi Jahangir Alam Qasmi, both of them were residents of Jamia Nagar in Delhi. The police also claimed that the IDC had received funds from Pakistan’s inter services intelligence (ISI) along with other foreign agencies to carry out these religious conversions.

On Saturday, the ED officials had searched these locations in Delhi as well as the office of IDC and the residences of Umar Gautam and Mufti Qazi and all the places were in the Jamia Nagar of Delhi. Whereas in UP, the offices of Al Hassan Education and Welfare Foundation and Guidance Education and Welfare Society were raided, both of which resided in Lucknow, the organisations were run by Umar Gautam and had played an instrumental role in carrying out the illegal conversions.

The UP Police’s ATS discovered these cases in the previous month, after which the ED had lodged a criminal case under the provisions of the stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act before it launched it’s own investigation in the case.