The Zero-Cost Mission/The Wily Agent

by Amar Bhushan

  ‘Frankly, I’m not convinced we can pull it off,’ the Chief remarked as he returned the file to Vijay. ‘You make a strong case for hurting Jamaat and the urgent need to carry out an operation against them, but the plan of action you have outlined is complicated. I agree with your assessment that we have to stem the influx of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, but the means you have suggested to accomplish this seem unrealistic. For example, the amount of service money you have requested for this mission is very high. It will be difficult for me to allocate it from my existing resources. And if I approach the prime minister for additional funds, he may not approve of the proposal. In fact, he is likely to reprimand me for encouraging officers like you to entertain wild, irresponsible and dangerous ideas and may even question my intent regarding the timing of the operation, given that state assembly elections are scheduled to take place in three of the eastern states during the next eight months. We all know the crucial role illegal Muslim immigrants play in swinging the electoral fortunes in West Bengal, Bihar and Assam.’

  ‘Sir, if the problem is of funds, we can scale down the size of the operation and tailor it to fit our budget,’ Vijay submitted.

  ‘If you do that, your purpose will not be fully served. I’m not in favour of a piecemeal approach,’ the Chief countered.

  ‘Sir, our first strike can be smaller in magnitude; it can serve as a dress rehearsal, and if it succeeds, we can follow it up with more strikes at regular intervals, denying Jamaat the opportunity to regroup,’ Vijay argued.

  ‘No dress rehearsal. In a year’s time none of us will be here, handling our current responsibilities. It is anybody’s guess whether our successors will choose to continue with this operation.’ The Chief paused and gazed out of the window thoughtfully before continuing. ‘Honestly, I am not convinced that the destruction of a few Jamaat facilities will significantly disrupt the infiltration of militants and illegal immigrants into India. Corrupt security forces and immigration officers, touts and smugglers, and conniving inhabitants on either side of the border will continue to facilitate their entry,’ the Chief pointed out.

  ‘Sir, my purpose is to at least start somewhere. The hope is that the execution of this plan will send a strong message to collaborators and force them to fall in line.’

  ‘Perhaps, but how do we convince the prime minister that this operation will benefit India’s long-term security interests?’

  ‘Sir, is it necessary to involve the prime minister at this stage?’ Vijay asked. ‘I doubt any prime minister would like to be direct party to a project of this nature, whatever the justification. But as intelligence officers, we cannot remain mute witnesses to the steady invasion of India by illegal immigrants, criminals and terrorists from Bangladesh, aided and actively abetted by Jamaat and the Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami.’

  ‘How certain are you about this invasion?’ the Chief probed.

  ‘Sir, the statistics are provided in the report’s annexe. Between 1950 and 1995, infiltration increased by 650 per cent, the number of madrasas along the border increased from twenty-eight to over 1100, and the number of districts in the four bordering Indian states where Bangladeshi Muslims have upset the electoral equation has jumped from two to twenty-one. At this rate, by 2050 the demography of the eastern states will have changed completely. It is just a matter of time before we begin to hear whispers followed by a clamour for a referendum by the migrants to seek a separate nation for themselves along our eastern border,’ Vijay pointed out.

  ‘The situation cannot be so bad,’ the Chief interrupted. ‘Are these facts and apprehensions based on briefings from your paid sources?’

  ‘Largely, but I have also checked the census figures, the internal assessment reports of the Ministry of Home Affairs and field enquiries conducted by several NGOs. Most of these reports have been deliberately suppressed for reasons of political expediency. But the most significant information was provided by a source in the Bangladesh government’s Ministry of Agriculture. According to him, in early 1992, the United Nations World Food Programme seriously considered reducing its quota of food for Bangladesh following field enquiries conducted by the Population Fund, which showed a significant drop in population in all border districts of Bangladesh. Apparently, the inhabitants had crossed over to India and during the same period, the number of immigrants on our side was reported to have gone up substantially. Is this not sufficient indication of the frightening direction in which we are headed?’

  ‘And what direction would that be?’

  ‘Sir, we are staring at a second partition of India and I don’t know if we can afford to procrastinate further on this issue. It is only a matter of time before someone rallies them to attain this goal,’ Vijay asserted.

  Reddy thought Aulakh deserved credit for allowing Vijay to argue his case so strongly. No other chief of the Agency would have tolerated Vijay, an officer three ranks his junior, to argue so forcefully for his views and openly contradict him. The Agency had a history of arrogant chiefs who wielded fear as a weapon. There were, of course, a few gentleman chiefs, but Jagjit Singh Aulakh was clearly a cut above all of them.

  ‘I understand your concerns,’ the Chief finally conceded, ‘but let’s not forget that destroying the Jamaat camps and their religious institutions can lead to swift and bloody consequences. It may result in a violent backlash against Hindus in Bangladesh and later, reprisals against illegal Muslim immigrants in India by angry Hindus. Besides, Indian political parties that have vested interests in encouraging the illegal immigration will surely cry foul and accuse us of acting like Rambos against hapless Bangladeshis coming to India in search of bread and butter for their survival.’

  ‘Sir, if you believe that there is some merit in my proposal, let me give it a shot,’ Vijay urged. ‘We may not be able to tear down the Jamaat infrastructure completely, but I am confident we can force them to think twice about sending their agent provocateurs and volunteers to India.’

  ‘Vijay, my biggest worry is the method you propose to employ in dismantling their network. You are planning to use your existing sources, many of whom must be under the surveillance of the Bangladesh Special Branch. You will be asking these sources to hire volunteers who have not been tried and tested by you in any operation. Then, you want to use these same volunteers to procure explosives from local defence depots which are heavily guarded. This will not only put their lives at risk but will also require superhuman effort to hide our complicity. If the Bangladeshi intelligence agencies or our political leadership smell our involvement, I will find it very difficult to either deny or justify our unilateral action.’

  ‘Sir, I am absolutely certain of covering our tracks,’ Vijay claimed, and drew the Chief’s attention to the measures he had proposed for ensuring the secrecy of the operation.

  At this point, Reddy looked at his watch surreptitiously. It was half-past nine. He imagined his wife and children must have reached the restaurant and placed their orders. Impatient to leave, he decided to prompt the Chief and Vijay to conclude their discussion, which he thought had already become more of an academic debate. ‘Sir, I have discussed this proposal threadbare with Vijay and I think it is workable,’ he said.

  ‘I still believe it will not be appropriate to launch such a major offensive without informing the prime minister. He may not agree, he may dispute our facts and find flaws in our arguments, but he should not be kept in the dark about a mission that involves entering a sovereign country to carry out a violent offensive against a political party that is part of the government in power,’ the Chief opined.

  ‘Actually, sir, I feel we should keep the PM out of it,’ Reddy suggested. ‘If we inform him of the proposal, he will have to take a position. If he says no to the operation, he may regret his helplessness to take a call when it is needed most. And if he agrees, he exposes himself as communal before a nation that is perennially caught in the crossfire between secularists and pragmatists.’

  ‘Fine, if both of you ins
ist on executing the operation, please amend the proposal so as to give absolute deniability to the PM and to the Agency. I want clarity on how you will shield him from the accusation of interfering in the internal politics of Bangladesh. As it is, the ruling Nationalist Party is always looking for an excuse to whip up anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh. If it finds out that the Agency has orchestrated attacks against Jamaat, which is after all its alliance partner in the government, it will raise hell, to the glee of their friends, Pakistan and China,’ the Chief cautioned.

  ‘Sir—’

  ‘I also want details on how you plan to handle the retributive response of the League in case Jamaat attacks them for collaborating with the Agency. You must ensure that the Nationalist Party does not lend its resources to Jamaat for taking their retaliation deep inside India.’

  ‘Sir, one option is that we send feelers to the League before launching the operation and warn them to be prepared for a backlash from Jamaat. The other is that we let events dictate the nature of the response of the League, Jamaat and the Nationalist Party following the destruction of the staging camps,’ Vijay said.

  ‘I don’t think the League will want to be sucked into our fight against the Jamaat,’ the Chief averred. ‘Especially since it is struggling to stay politically relevant—it is being steamrolled in the parliament on all issues, its leadership and cadre are under constant physical attack and the morale of its workers is in total disarray. I doubt it will be willing to divert its focus from taking on the Nationalist Party to fighting Jamaat on our behalf,’ the Chief argued.

  ‘Sir, when it comes to Jamaat, the League will do anything. It has not forgotten the mass murder of thousands of Bangladeshi freedom fighters and intellectuals by Jamaat mercenaries at the behest of the Pakistan Army during the Liberation War of 1971. Unlike the Nationalist Party and its allies, it has not forgotten our contribution to their freedom struggle and to the reconstruction of their ravaged economic, political, educational and administrative institutions. They would be more than willing to join us in this mission,’ Vijay pointed out.

  ‘I don’t agree,’ Reddy interrupted. ‘We must avoid prior consultation with any party or individual for an operation of this sensitivity.’

  ‘Agreed. But let’s say I clear the proposal. Are you sure Atul Kulkarni, who is currently in charge of the Calcutta office, is the man to carry it out?’ the Chief enquired. ‘He is not cut out to handle operations that require precise and detailed planning and complete control over their execution. He also suffers from a misplaced notion of his operational abilities and comes up with impractical ideas. My fear is that he will alter your plan with his own misguided ideas, making a mess of its execution.’

  ‘Vijay has some ideas on this,’ Reddy said. ‘He suggests transferring Atul to headquarters and bringing Sujal in from Hyderabad to take over in his place.’

  ‘But Atul has not completed even a year in the Calcutta office. He is bound to protest his premature withdrawal to headquarters and will insist on knowing why he is being transferred so soon,’ the Chief said.

  ‘Sir, in that case, perhaps we can allow Atul to continue in Calcutta and assign Sujal as his deputy with the understanding that Sujal will run this operation on our behalf and report only to us,’ Vijay said.

  ‘Wasn’t Sujal posted to Hyderabad only five months ago?’ the Chief asked. ‘I don’t want to uproot his family again. I suggest you look for another officer.’

  Reddy glanced at his watch. It was 9.45 p.m. Before Vijay could say anything, he requested the Chief to allow him to leave.

  ‘Yes, of course, I think we’re done here for tonight,’ the Chief agreed. ‘Vijay, I want you to submit a list of officers from whom we will choose the one who is best suited for this mission. And please amend the plan of action, giving total deniability to the PM and the Agency. We can finalize the officer who will be in charge of the operation after I come back from tour. ‘Reddy, if you can wait for five more minutes, we can leave together.’

  ‘Actually, sir, my wife and children are waiting for me in a restaurant. Today is my birthday,’ Reddy, who had run out of patience, finally announced.

  ‘Oh! Many happy returns of the day! I’m sorry for detaining you; why didn’t you tell me earlier?’ the Chief asked.

  He shook Reddy’s hand warmly, hugged him and requested Reddy to let him speak to his wife. Reddy dutifully called her; the Chief apologized to her for delaying Reddy and promised to make amends by taking them out for dinner.

  Reddy left soon after that and arrived at the restaurant as his wife and children were about to finish their dinner. As usual, they refrained from enquiring about the reason for his delay and instead ordered his favourite whisky, followed by food. They were used to him missing such family festivities.

  When they finally got home, they found a large bouquet of roses waiting for them. It was from Aulakh.

  Vijay Shukla, however, had stayed back at the office at the Chief’s request. After Reddy left, the Chief asked Vijay if he had any particular reason for trusting Sujal to undertake the operation.

  ‘Sir, once you put him in charge of any operation, you can rest assured it will be carried out flawlessly,’ Vijay replied. ‘He is aggressive, motivated and possesses the courage of the devil. He accesses his targets directly, neutralizes the worst of his foes in no time, has no qualms in using and dumping sources and enjoys experimenting with unorthodox methods to execute his task. Sir, he has only two drawbacks. He is prone to overpaying his sources and is averse to keeping his seniors updated on the progress made in an ongoing operation and any difficulties that he runs into before it is finally over.’

  ‘I don’t know much about him. But several senior officers have complained to me that he is opinionated and highly critical of those who do not favour him. I believe he also has a tendency to flout instructions and ignore departmental guidelines,’ the Chief said, a frown creasing his brow.

  ‘Sir, that may be true, but he is a rarity among field operatives,’ Vijay clarified. ‘He worked with me for a few years and I saw him functioning from close quarters. He has a real talent for planting sources in what appear to be inaccessible targets. What separates him from most of us is his love for accomplishing the impossible. I am sure that when I brief him, he will jump at the offer. He won’t hesitate to take up the challenge, in spite of the inconvenience the move to Calcutta will cause to his wife and children.’

  ‘He must be really good, given the passion with which you are advocating his case,’ the Chief remarked. ‘I may just take a chance with your project and this officer. But before I transfer him to Calcutta, I want you to speak to him and gauge his reaction to the offer. Also, keep Reddy informed of our final decision. You can schedule our next meeting two weeks from now. Invite Sujal as well.’

  Aulakh concluded the meeting.

  Vijay collected the file and left. He was happy that he had succeeded in getting the Chief on board for a project that had become his obsession ever since he had joined the Bangladesh desk.

  The next day, Vijay updated Reddy on his discussion with the Chief and on his plan to sound out his friend on his likely transfer to Calcutta.

  ‘Are you sure he will accept the offer?’ Reddy asked.

  ‘I know Sujal. He likes his ego to be massaged, so I plan to tell him that he has been specially picked to undertake an operation in Bangladesh on behalf of the Chief,’ Vijay confided. ‘Besides, the operation will also provide him with the opportunity to renew his contacts with his old friends and assets in Dhaka.’

  ‘Sounds like you plan to make an offer he will find hard to refuse,’ Reddy said, smiling.

  ‘Yes, although the only possible hitch is his wife’s poor health. He may refuse to move because of it.’

  ‘Let’s speak to him. But we should tell him to come to Delhi—I’m not comfortable mentioning anything about such a sensitive project on the phone. You can brief him on the proposal in my presence, and we can get his views on its feasibility a
s well as his reaction to relocating to Calcutta. I see no point in sending an unhappy man to run such a difficult mission.’

  ‘I agree, although I can’t think of anyone better than Sujal to head this operation. In fact, I had only him in mind to run it when I first conceived the plan.’

  ‘Then let’s hope he agrees,’ Reddy concluded.

  Sujal was intrigued to receive a cryptic cable from Vishwanath Reddy, who wanted him to take the first available flight to Delhi. The cable gave no indication of why he was being summoned. He had never worked under Reddy nor had he ever had anything to do with Southeast Asia, the latter’s regional responsibility. Staying true to his obsessive sense of discreetness, he called no one at headquarters to find out more about the possible agenda for the meeting. He took the flight to Delhi the following morning and headed straight to the Agency headquarters. He rang up Reddy to announce his arrival from the reception desk. Reddy, who was busy in meetings, asked him to come to his office. He gave Sujal a folder and suggested that he go through its contents carefully and return to discuss them that evening at five.

  His curiosity more than piqued, Sujal retired to the library and began reading through the document. He quickly realized that the subject matter of the note did not relate to the Middle Eastern countries that he was currently handling but rather to Bangladesh, which he had handled several years ago. It was a thirty-two-page top-secret operational plan, accompanied by several annexes and maps, but without any mention of who had authored it. He glanced through the portions that sought to justify the objective, smiled as he read the plan of action and put several question marks in places where the logistic requirements were listed out. He spent most of his time in going through the concluding paragraphs in which firewalls to protect the Agency from exposure were suggested. After that, he noted down the points that created doubts in his mind and needed clarification. But he still could not understand why Reddy wished to take him into confidence regarding a project that sought to destroy Jamaat’s facilities inside Bangladesh. He guessed that Vijay might have advised Reddy to seek his input on the plan’s feasibility because of his past experience in handling Jamaat during his tenure in Dhaka. But that was years ago, Sujal pondered. He had of course remained abreast of developments in Bangladesh since then but only through the newspapers and friends occasionally visiting from Dhaka. Knowing it would be pointless for him to speculate further on why he had been summoned, he decided to wait till he met with Reddy to get some answers.