An article in The Tehelka on R&AW has appeared as a special report in the issue Vol 5, Issue 43, Saturday 1, Nov
ember 2008. It is highly damaging to the confidence of the citizens of the country if the report given in the article is true. The magazine can not be accused of demoralizing article. It is a reality which they have reported as a part of their duty. The R&AW department has remained in news in recent times for all the
wrong reasons. It is, I believe, the fortune of the wing as it is to be called, that general public do not have any perception about the existence and activities of this wing. But, the reputation which it has built by recent news reports is such that no organization could cherish such an image.There are many issues and aspects taken up in the article in the The Tehelka. One issue which attracted the attention of this blogger was the report that there is more detail available on Wikipedia than what is being denied through RTI. On a simple search on RAW, the assertion proved to be perfectly true. There is not only such information which could be called sensitive and detailed and exclusive, but there are enough references to show that they can be taken as authenticated.
The Wikipedia article on R&AW gives a good and comprehensive detail on the intelligence wing. The range and dimensions of the activities of R&AW as covered in the article is really amazing. No doubt, that the article in the Tehelka has not wrongly identified that the Wikipedia article is replete with more deeper information than what is being denied under RTI as may have been tried by the investigator of the magazine and Major General V K Singh. It seems that it is a true case. The use of aircrafts, the area of operations are such information which, I can imagine could have been denied in RTI but they are available there.
In the discussion section, one can locate that how the name of the R&AW was empahsised over and above the acronym RAW. It is surprising to see that in the Indian Media, one generally comes across the term RAW instead of R&AW. In the article of Wikipedia, the editors are very particular that R&AW is used in the titles of every section. Even the article in the Tehleka has used the title “RAW and Rudderless” and no where in the body of the article, the magazine has cared to use R&AW.
If the general public or any reader, who has read this post upto this point, does not find interest in it then he or she may try to remember the sexual harassment case of R&AW officer Nisha Bhatia before the office of PM. I am sure that it will raise the interest of the reader. Now when the country is over occupied with the stories about the MNS versus Biharis, and Bomb blasts, it may not interest them. However, if they just ask one question, that if the Bomb blasts continue to take place in the country and every time the link is either directed to Bangladesh or Pakistan then why do the country intelligence not put a check on them? If it interests the reader then, I take the privilege to continue to tell that this article directed my path on some research over internet. I have come across some of the exclusive posts and blogs on this aspect that it really becomes a web mole activity. Instead of giving my own version, I suggest that one should use http://www.images.google.com/ with the search term Ashok Chaturvedi, Nisha Bhatia, V. K. Sood, R. N. Kao and then some general search on Wikipedia on MI5, CIA, Mossad, ISI and finally same terms on Blogsearch.google.com. One may try technorati also. One has to show some patience then I assure you that you will enjoy working as a cyber Sherlock Holmes.
On the whole the result of the searches and the article of Tehelka are really disheartening.
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