When Pakistan called to ask about blasts
6 March 2013 6:45 AM IST
Indian security agencies were caught napping when information about the recent Hyderabad blasts was sought over telephone through a call made from Pakistan to an officer of the elite National Security Guards (NSG). The agencies are downplaying the incident claiming no valuable information was revealed.
This incident has come to light at a time when Pakistan prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf is scheduled to visit India. The two countries had recently upped the ante when two Indian soldiers were allegedly beheaded by Pakistanis at the LoC. Pervez ’s visit at such a time had floated hopes for some bonhomie.
The call to the Major-rank NSG officer, who is on deputation from the Army, has raised questions about adherence to ‘Do’s and Dont’s’ being issued from time to time by central security agencies. The NSG has instituted an inquiry to ascertain the cause of the lapse wherein a suspected ISI agent called the EPBX of the NSG office here and asked for the Major, who reportedly disclosed information about the movement of Black Cats to the site of the blasts thinking it was a senior officer at the other end as was conveyed to him. However, the officer did not share any important evidence about the trigger mechanism of the explosives that was used in the blasts last month.
NSG chief Arvind Ranjan has ‘ordered an inquiry’ but said no vital information had been leaked to the unidentified caller from Pakistan.
According to sources, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call is coming in handy for ISI agents and terrorists operating from Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The mushrooming of unregistered VoIP or Internet telephony is fast becoming a security problem as the origin of the caller and the time of the call cannot be ascertained immediately.
Central security agencies have been pressing Department of Telecom to ask service providers to come up with a solution for which several rounds of meetings have taken place between DoT, National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) and service providers.
This incident has come to light at a time when Pakistan prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf is scheduled to visit India. The two countries had recently upped the ante when two Indian soldiers were allegedly beheaded by Pakistanis at the LoC. Pervez ’s visit at such a time had floated hopes for some bonhomie.
The call to the Major-rank NSG officer, who is on deputation from the Army, has raised questions about adherence to ‘Do’s and Dont’s’ being issued from time to time by central security agencies. The NSG has instituted an inquiry to ascertain the cause of the lapse wherein a suspected ISI agent called the EPBX of the NSG office here and asked for the Major, who reportedly disclosed information about the movement of Black Cats to the site of the blasts thinking it was a senior officer at the other end as was conveyed to him. However, the officer did not share any important evidence about the trigger mechanism of the explosives that was used in the blasts last month.
NSG chief Arvind Ranjan has ‘ordered an inquiry’ but said no vital information had been leaked to the unidentified caller from Pakistan.
According to sources, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call is coming in handy for ISI agents and terrorists operating from Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The mushrooming of unregistered VoIP or Internet telephony is fast becoming a security problem as the origin of the caller and the time of the call cannot be ascertained immediately.
Central security agencies have been pressing Department of Telecom to ask service providers to come up with a solution for which several rounds of meetings have taken place between DoT, National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) and service providers.
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