Release of Indian spy Surjeet Singh

Asif Haroon Raja

An Indian national Surjeet Singh son of Sucha Singh was arrested in 1982 during Gen Ziaul Haq’s rule on charges of spying. During his interrogation he confessed that he had carried out several bomb blasts in different cities of Pakistan causing deaths to over 20 people. He also revealed that he had been sent by RAW and gave out details how RAW interferes in neighboring countries. He was awarded death sentence in 1985 under Pak Army Act 1985. His death sentence was commuted to life sentence by former President Ghulam Ishaq Khan in 1989 on the advice of the then PM Benazir Bhutto. He was released on 28 June 2012 after he had served his life sentence for 31 years in Kot Lakhpat jail and handed over to Indian authorities at Wagah border crossing.

As reported by Times of India of June 28, 2012, minutes after stepping on home soil, 69 years old Surjeet Singh admitted he was an Indian spy sent to Pakistan. “I was a RAW agent. No one bothered for me after I got arrested. Don’t ask me too much otherwise the BSF will get annoyed”, he told the Indian media.  Times of India dated 29 June reported it was an emotional homecoming for Surjeet Singh. His family from Ferozepur and villagers as well as Indian officials gave him a warm welcome. The moment he crossed over he told the questioning reporters, he was well-treated during his long term of imprisonment. He said he was lured into spying by a BSF inspector and was sent to Pakistan for spying by Indian intelligence agency RAW. He vowed he’d never cross the border again.  His assertions were reported by all newspapers of India.

According to Indian newspapers, Surjeet Singh also revealed that another Indian spy Sarabjit Singh working for RAW undergoing imprisonment in Kot Lakhpat jail on charges of espionage is fit and fine and in good shape and that he used to meet him once in a week. He said Indian prisoners in Pakistani jails faced no problems and were treated well. “There is nothing like beating them. They get everything like soap, oil, clothes etc. Medical treatment is given whenever needed”, he said. (Deccan Herald dated 1 July 2012). Like the Indian prisoners involved and convicted on charges of espionage and terrorism, the Indian fishermen caught fishing inside Pakistan’s zone have also been humanely treated and released after reminding them not to enter Pakistani waters.    

Another Indian spy Sarabjit Singh was convicted and sentenced to death for involvement in a string of bomb attacks in Lahore and Multan in 1990 killing 14 people. He filed five petitions and the last was submitted in May this year. Ansar Burney has been in the forefront campaigning for his release on humanitarian grounds. President Zardari has commuted his death sentence to life sentence on 26 June 2012 and it will not be long before he too would be released.  

Unlike the humane and generous behavior of Pakistani officials towards Indian prisoners, Indians have been treating Pakistani prisoners languishing in Indian jails cruelly. Even fishermen are not spared. All those who were fortunate to survive the tortures and returned back after long years of imprisonment have either lost their memory, or are mentally deranged, or crippled. Several prisoners were returned after they passed away. Dr Khalil Chishti on his visit to India to meet his relatives was falsely implicated in a murder case in Ajmer in April 1990. He languished in Indian jail under trying conditions for 20 years and was released and sent to Pakistan on humanitarian grounds when he was on a wheel chair. From among all the Pakistani prisoners languishing in Indian prisons or those who were released, none was a spy. No one was caught and convicted on charges of espionage.

This is notwithstanding the fact that all the acts of terror taking place in India including Mumbai attacks were lumped on Pakistan and intelligence agency ISI. This trend of implicating Pakistan falsely has received a big blow after a Hindu so-called sage Aseemanabad, who in actuality is a terrorist, confessed after his arrest that he and his group and other affiliated Hindu terrorist groups were involved in all the terrorist attacks against Indian Muslims in India between 2004 and 2011. Hindu Taliban espousing Hindutva are getting stronger. Another blow to India’s credibility was delivered when the list of terrorists involved in Mumbai attacks supposedly hiding in Pakistan proved false. Surjeet Singh has delivered yet another blow to India by falsifying Indian propaganda that Indian prisoners are being treated harshly by Pakistan and also India’s claim that RAW is not involved in spying and terrorism in Pakistan.

It will be recalled that in April 2011, Gopal Das, an Indian spy was released from Pakistani jail after President Zardari intervened in his case. Upon his release and return to India, he admitted he was an Indian spy and lashed out at the Indian authorities for abandoning him during his 23 years in jail. Gopal Das, Surjeet Singh and Sarbjit Singh, three confirmed RAW agents prove the point beyond an iota of doubt that India is heavily involved in the racket of espionage and terrorism in Pakistan, particularly in Balochistan and FATA where Pakistan has collected concrete proofs. In contrast, no Pakistani has ever been indicted and convicted on charges of espionage in India, which should open the eyes of the world.

Surjeet Singh’s revelations unnerved Indian leadership and Home Secretary RK Singh had to hastily issue a rebuttal on the following day that Surjeet was not a spy working for New Delhi. “We do not accept this that Surjeet was a spy”, he told a news conference. “We deny it because we do not do this kind of thing”, he said. “Neither do we do spying, nor we send spies”, he added. In his haste to control the damage he forgot that the arrow shot by Surjeet had already left the bow and India stood fully exposed. How innocent of RK Singh! Whom is he trying to befool? He should ask each and every neighbor of India about the perverse role of RAW in stoking instability and will get the right answer that spying is the bread and butter of RAW and terrorism is in its blood. Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal are the worst sufferers.

As the endgame in Afghanistan is reaching its logical conclusion and occupying forces are packing up their baggage to quit, RAW’s huge network established on Afghan soil since 2002 to destabilize Pakistan is getting panicky. Like the fast fluttering candle at its fag end before getting extinguished, RAW in connivance with RAAM and patronized by CIA is trying to boost up runaway Maulana Fazlullah and his group based in Kunar in its futile bid to weaken the strong defence put up by Pak security forces along the western border. Since 2011, over 100 security personnel and dozens of civilians have been ruthlessly killed by Kunar based militants. Cross border forays by Pakistani Taliban on the payroll of foreign agencies in Dir, Chitral, Mehmand and Bajaur are probably being orchestrated to counter alleged forays of so-called Haqqani network from North Waziristan. The two cannot be equated since latter is fighting against occupying forces to free their country while the former is waging an illegal war against own country at the behest of foreign powers. I reckon Pakistan has developed armed drone capability. Its first live experiment should be in Kunar to destroy the safe havens of Fazlullah, Malulvi Faqir and Abdul Wali.