New Delhi:

Pakistan’s notorious spy agency ISI has secretly sent four top members to Dhaka, raising a red flag in New Delhi. Acknowledging the development, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday that India is keeping a very close watch on the developments in its immediate neighbourhood, especially ones that having a bearing on its national security. “Appropriate action” will be taken, if required, the foreign ministry said.

Pakistani spy agency ISI’s Director General of Analysis Maj Gen Shahid Amir Afsar and other senior officials are reportedly visiting Bangladesh at the moment. The visit comes close on the heels of a Bangladeshi military delegation visiting Rawalpindi and meeting the army, air force, and navy chiefs.

“We keep an eye on all activities around the country and in the region, as well as all activities affecting our national security, and the government will take appropriate steps,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in response to a question on fast-growing military engagement between Bangladesh and Pakistan.

ISI OFFICIALS IN DHAKA

According to a report in the Hindustan Times, less than a week after a Bangladeshi military delegation toured Pakistan, meeting all three service chiefs, Rawalpindi has sent four senior officers, including a two-star General of the ISI to Dhaka. The report, which attributes the development to unnamed sources familiar with the matter, states that Major General Shahid Amir Afsar, who is the Director General of Analysis in the ISI, and has served as Pakistan’s defence attache in Beijing, is part of the delegation.

The six-member Bangladeshi delegation which visited Rawalpindi – the town where Pakistan’s military headquarters is based – was led by Lt. Gen. SM Kamrul Hasan, the Principal Staff Officer of the Bangladesh Armed Forces Division. Pakistan Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir reportedly met them for extensive talks. The Bangladeshi delegation stayed in Pakistan between January 13 and January 18.

Photo Credit: YouTube / ISPR Official

Just three days later – on January 21, Rawalpindi secretly dispatched a senior delegation to Dhaka. This was the first time in nearly two decades that the ISI officially went to Bangladesh. A senior official from Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Forces Intelligence or DGFI received them at the airport upon their arrival aboard an Emirates Airlines flight routed via Dubai.

The ISI team is being given a detailed tour of several military establishments in Bangladesh and is reportedly being informed about Dhaka’s military capabilities and preparedness.

In the midst of these visits by either side, the Pakistan Army’s media wing – the Inter-Services Public Relations or ISPR released a statement, in which it wrote that the meeting between Lt Gen SM Kamrul Hasan of Bangladesh and Pak Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir “underscored the importance of a stronger defence relationship, emphasising that the enduring partnership between the two brotherly nations must remain resilient against external influences.”

WHEN ISI ACTIVITY WAS STOPPED IN BANGLADESH

When Sheikh Hasina was the prime minister, all activities by Pakistan’s ISI was brought to a grinding halt due to its covert activities and political interference in Bangladesh, as well as its support for extremist elements. Under Sheikh Hasina’s leadership, several people were caught and prosecuted for their involvement and collusion with the ISI during the 1971 Bangladesh War.

But ever since Sheikh Hasina’s ouster, the interim government under Muhammad Yunus has been accelerating military ties with Pakistan. During the 1990s, when terror camps mushroomed across Pakistan and were used on foreign soil as “an instrument of state policy”, as highlighted by India at the United Nations, the ISI even used Bangladeshi soil to fund militancy and insurgency in India’s northeastern states. This too was cracked down upon by Sheikh Hasina when she came to power the first time in 1996.
 

Pedestrians walk past the ‘Adani House’ corporate building in Gurgaon on November 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

India was not informed by the United States government about its investigation into the Adani group, said that Ministry of External Affairs on Friday (November 29, 2024), who confirmed that the Indian Embassy in Washington has thus far not received any legal paperwork on the indictments against top Adani officials accused of a conspiracy to bribe Indian officials. Calling it a legal matter between “private firms and individuals, and the US Department of Justice,” the MEA said it was not involved directly, and that it had not been asked for help in the matter by the US, nor had the government sought evidence of the bribery allegations in order to pursue investigations in India.

The statement from the MEA came even as both houses of parliament were adjourned for a fourth day, with the government refusing to make a statement, and the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha rejecting adjournment motions for a debate on the issue. 

“This is a legal matter involving private firms and individuals and the U.S. Department of Justice,” said the MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, responding to a question from The Hindu. “We are not part of it in any manner at this point of time.” 

To another question on whether the government had been served with the arrest warrant issued by a court in New York after a grand jury indicted Adani Chairman Gautam Adani and 7 other officials of the company variously on a number of counts ranging from bribery, conspiracy and securities fraud on November 21, the MEA spokesperson said the Embassy in Washington had not been contacted about the case.

“Obviously there are established procedures and legal avenues in such cases which we believe would be followed. The Government of India was not informed in advance on the issue,” he said, adding, “We have not had any conversation on this particular matter with the US government”.

The U.S. Department of Justice is now expected to initiate proceedings for a trial, although it is unclear how far a change in administration in the US in January will affect the process, and whether there will be other avenues such as allowing the Adani group to pay a fine in lieu of further action. Although the alleged bribery of Indian officials took place in India, US agencies have invoked a Bonds issue in the US and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to justify its case against the group.  India and the US signed a Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters in 2001, which came into force in 2005, which governs any requests for assistance in cases against citizens in each other’s jurisdictions. 

“Any request by a foreign government for service of summons/arrest warrant is part of mutual legal assistance. Such requests are examined on merits. We have not received any request on this case from the US side,” Mr. Jaiswal clarified.

Responding to the US indictments last week, the Adani group had denied any wrongdoing, and said it would pursue legal recourse. It also disclosed that it has thus far suffered losses of US $55 billion since the indictment was made public in terms of market capitalisation across 11 listed companies.

In a statement to news agency AFP, the group said it had already faced “significant repercussions” , including “international project cancellations, financial market impact and sudden examination from strategic partners, investors and the public”, with a specific reference to Kenya where the government cancelled its contracts for infrastructure and energy. Others like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have announced reviews of Adani contracts.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.
| Photo Credit: MEA Briefing

India is concerned by the Israeli attack on the Iranian diplomatic premises in Syria on April 1, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on April 4. “Distressed at the escalating tensions in West Asia and their potential to fuel further violence and instability”, New Delhi has urged all parties to avoid actions that go against “commonly accepted principles and norms of International Law”, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in his weekly media briefing.

Israel strikes Iranian embassy, Iran vows retaliation

Israeli air strikes destroyed the Iranian embassy’s consular annex in Syria on April 1, killing and wounding everyone inside, Damascus said as Iranian state TV reported a Revolutionary Guards commander among the dead.

Britain-based war monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said eight people, including several Guards members, were killed when “Israeli missiles… destroyed the building of an annex to the Iranian embassy”.

Iranian state TV said among those killed was a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ foreign operations arm, the Quds Force, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi.

Also read: A new low: On Israel’s Gaza war and the U.S. response

Iran and one of its key proxies on April 2 vowed to respond to the Israeli attack. Israel has repeatedly targeted military officials from Iran, which supports militant groups fighting Israel in Gaza, and along its border with Lebanon. Monday’s strike in Damascus signaled an escalation because it struck an Iranian diplomatic mission.

Iran’s official news agency IRNA said Tuesday that Iran relayed an important message to the United States late Monday and that it called for a meeting of the U.N. Security Council. The message to Washington was delivered through a Swiss envoy in Tehran; Switzerland looks after U.S. interests in Iran.

(with inputs from agencies)