K.P. Dhungana, Author 'Open Secret'
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| KP Dhungana |
Mr. K.P. Dhungana is a
serious Nepali journalist reporting on crime and security related issues since
long. He has already worked for the Rajdhani Daily and Naya Patrika, and is now
working for the Nagarik Daily. Originally Dhungana hails from Talamarang VDC of
Sindhupalchock district who is now in Kathmandu carefully monitoring the
maneuvering of international dons, mafia and secret agencies from various
countries by being inside the Nepali soil. "Open Secret", a book
penned by him and published by Fine Print has very recently hit the kiosks of
Nepal's major cities. Congratulations Mr. Dhungana for your daring steps.
Sujit Mainali for the
Telegraph Weekly and its online edition telegraphnepal.com
interviewed this bouncing and enterprising young man about the presence and
activities of international secret agencies along with their dons and their
maneuvering inside Nepal.
Below the excerpts of
this exclusive interview: Chief Editor.
TQ1: You have recently
launched a book named 'Open Secret'. Can you please tell us what this book is
all about?
Dhungana: The book is focused on trans-boarder
crime taking place frequently inside the Nepali soil. The book covers the
incident that took place in between 2055 to 2068 BS. In this period, spanning
to some 13 years, seven criminal activities were accomplished by actors engaged
in the trans-border crime in which six were the murder cases and the seventh
one was the attempt to murder. In this book, I have tried to lay bare the
involvement of spies of different countries in masterminding the ploy.
TQ2: Which factor(s)
motivated you to write this book?
Dhungana: After I went
through documents of some of the above stated murder cases, I smelt rat. Then I
decided to explore and go more deep into this subject. After a series of study,
in-depth investigation followed by interview(s) with the stakeholders, I found
the involvement of international spy agencies and underworld dons in those
criminal activities.
Finally I found that the very
same gang was behind the entire seven criminal acts. The people who were
involved in orchestrating the plot were also the same and the place where the
designs were made was also strangely a matching one. Only the people who were
used in frontline to materialize the plot were obviously different. These facts
further deepened my quest to unveil the truth which is what I have tried in
this book.
TQ3: Don’t you feel afraid to
have written a book on such a sensitive issue?
Dhungana: I have remained
value free and unbiased in the book. My book is not targeted against any
criminal gangs, mafia groups or against any country. By book is based on the
facts. I have tried to maintain absolute neutrality, as far as I could, while
writing this book, and hence, I do not think anyone will target me for the
subject I have presented through the book.
The realities behind the above
stated criminal acts were known to limited politicians, bureaucrats and
journalists only. If no one dares to write about it, how the public will be
informed about the reality? After all I am a journalist and my prime duty is to
inform public about the truth. This sense of moral obligation overwhelmed me
and this is what motivated me to write this book.
TQ4: Which factor, do you
think, is responsible for the frequent occurrence of trans-border crimes inside
Nepali soil?
Dhungana: Criminal gangs
of this region are making best use of the open border existing in between Nepal
and India. India has deployed a large number of SSB along its border with
Nepal. The monitoring and surveillance mechanism of India is strong and
vibrant. But Nepali side is very poor in this regard. Armed Police Force (APF)
is assigned to monitor the border areas; however, the presence of APF along the
border is very poor. They are not well equipped with sophisticated equipments
and technologies. As a result, Nepal is becoming the prime victim of the open
border phenomenon.
I think Nepal should take
initiatives at the diplomatic level to regulate open border with India. Nepal
has nearly become a failed state due to wide spread criminal activities
propelled by the porous open border. This is the most serious issue and hence
the government must take inventiveness immediately to regulate open border for
curbing trans-border crime.
TQ5: We have heard that you
have hinted some sort of stealthy relation that exist in between the underworld
mafias and intelligence agencies of this region. Is it true?
Dhungana: Of course. All
the seven criminal activities have many things in common and this commonality
adds to the strength of my argument. In my book, I have tried to uncover some
hidden aspects of the murder case of Mirza Dilshad Beg, Kamal Singh Nepali,
Majid Munihar, Shaukat Beg, Jamim Shah, and Faizan Ahmed and attempt of murder
of Yunus Ansari. All these people were accused of being involved in anti-Indian
activities. They all were also charged for working with India's most wanted
Dawood Ibrahim of D-Company from the Nepali soil. They were further accused for
being involved in racket of counterfeit Indian currency in bulk for ruining the
Indian economy. Indian media used to report that all of them were working for
Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan.
I do not accuse the intelligence
agency of any country as such for officially orchestrating conspiracy of above
stated criminal ploy. But my investigation shows that a joint team of officials
of India's intelligence agencies Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Intelligence
Bureau (IB), Central Intelligence Bureau (CIB) and Special Task Force are
supporting the criminal gangs for carrying out criminal activities and terror
inside Nepali soil. Officials of Indian intelligence agencies are supporting
the criminals from behind the scene. This is my tentative finding.
TQ6: You are making quite
thrilling and somewhat frightening remarks. How can you claim the authenticity
of your arguments that you have made in the book?
Dhungana: I have gone
through several published and unpublished reports and only have then confirmed
their authenticity. Only the facts, for example, which were verified after
cross checking were included in book. Nepalese intelligence found that some
people involved in the trans-border crime were associated with India's security
agencies. Nepal government made a number of requests to India demanding details
about the suspected Indian nationals. But India always prefers to remain tightlipped
in such moments. For the details, I request the reader of this newspaper and
website to go through my book. You will better understand after reading the
book.
TQ7: Which criminal gangs and
underworld dons in your knowledge were active inside Nepal? Cana you name some?
Dhungana: The gangs led by
underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Chhota Rajan and Babloo Srivastava are active
here.
TQ8: Can you please reveal
more about their nexus with Intelligence agencies of this region?
Dhungana: Let me not
accuse any intelligence agency as such for having official nexus with the
criminal gangs and dons. But what is for sure is that some officials of Indian
intelligence agencies are favoring Chhota Rajan and Babloo Srivastava whereas
that of Pakistan are favoring Dawood Ibrahim.
Prior to carrying out the 1993
Mumbai blast, Dawood was working being close with the Indian security agencies.
After the Mumbai carnage, distance between Dawood and India comfortably
widened. India then promoted Chhota Rajan, the junior of Dawood in his gang, to
form his own underworld group for taming the rival Dawood machinery. Since
then, Chota Rajan is working in close association with some officials of
India's security agencies.
The report of INTERPOL has time
and again claimed that Dawood is living a lavish life in Karachi, a city of
Pakistan. The reluctance of Pakistani security officials to arrest him has
hinted that some sort of tacit understanding exists between him and the
officials of Pakistan's security agencies.
Nepal is becoming a battleground
of the intelligence agencies of India and Pakistan. It is very unfortunate to
tell that a peace loving country is being victimized by the rivalry between
these two South Asian nuclear powers.
TQ9: Can you please let our
august readers know about the level of presence of Indian and Pakistani
intelligence agencies in Nepal?
Dhungana: The presence of
intelligence agencies of both India and Pakistan is very strong here. But their
working style is totally different.
RAW and IB are frequently dragged
into controversy. Their activities inside Nepal usually hit the headlines of
media. I don’t know whether the Indian intelligence create hullaballoo of their
activities deliberately or it is the manifestation of their weakness? On the
contrary, ISI is working as a 'silent killer' inside Nepal. It is successfully
carrying out its activities here; however, its activities seldom become a
matter of public debate in Kathmandu. The agents of ISI also meet top-hats of
Nepal; but it rarely gets leaked to the public. The silent presence of ISI
doesn’t mean that it is weaker than RAW or IB inside Nepal. Pakistani
intelligences were trained by American intelligence agencies, the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) where as
the RAW and IB were trained by Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (KGB) of
the former USSR during the cold war era. Their schooling might have shaped
their working style. However, I am not much confident on this.
TQ10: What the intelligence
agency of Nepal is doing to curb the maneuvering of foreign intelligence
activities then?
Dhungana: Nepal's
intelligence agency cannot well perform in advance and hence they are unable to
foil the attempt(s) of foreign intelligence agencies. However, after the incident
takes place, they usually succeed in exploring the whole history of the
incident. The counter intelligence mechanism of Nepal is very weak. This is
unfortunate.
TQ11: Besides India and
Pakistan, which countries intelligence agencies' are also active inside Nepal?
Dhungana: Obviously the
intelligence agencies of all the powerful countries are active here. But of
late, Chinese intelligence too has increased its activities and surveillances
in a dramatic manner. Chinese spies are making penetration not only in the Free
Tibet Movement, but on all the possible fronts. But till now Chinese
intelligence is making the Nepal government to do its desired work here. Unlike
India, the Chinese spy has yet not appeared on the ground to get their concerns
addressed.
Chinese assertiveness has
increased to such a height that Nepal government cannot position any Chief
Security Officers in the northern districts of Nepal adjoining border with
China’s soft underbelly Tibet without the consent of Beijing. The involvement
of India and other third countries in the Free Tibet Movement has cautioned
Beijing and this has made the Beijing spies to increase their presence inside
Nepal.
TQ12: It is often accused that
a number of Nepali leaders are working as the agent(s) of foreign intelligence
agencies. Do you think so? Is it a reliable story?
Dhungana: I prefer not to
use the word 'agent'. But what is for sure is that the leaders ranging from the
top to the bottom of Nepal's political system, bureaucracy and security
agencies are under the direct influence of foreign intelligence agencies.
Some months ago, the Wikileaks
had revealed that senior leader of CPN UML Mr. Bhim Rawal was excessively close
to the diplomatic mission of America in Nepal. Beside this, officials of RAW meeting
Prime Minister, President and Ministers of Nepal hit the media headline very
often. A spy meeting with the executive head of country is a rare case, but it
occurs frequently in Nepal. This shows that top brass of Nepal are also under
the direct influence of foreign intelligence agencies.
Sometime in the long past,
distance between Koirala family and India had widened. As a result, some of the
influential family members went to the lap of Pakistan. Later, those family
members calculated the pros and cons of getting involved into the Pakistan
lobby and they tried their best to convince the Indian officials for their
re-entry into the Indian lobby. This is just an example. Being close to the
intelligence agencies of our neighboring countries has become a usual
phenomenon here. Very sorry to say so.
TQ13: Mr. Dhungana, at the
end, do you have any suggestion on how to curb the maneuvering of foreign
intelligence and actors of trans-border crime in Nepal?
Dhungana: Prior to
forwarding the recommendation, let me point out the root cause of the
problem(s).
Indian intelligence and Chinese
intelligence are active inside Nepal for protecting their respective security
concerns inside Nepal. India and China are not convinced that Nepal's soil will
never be used against them. Driven by the sense insecurity, they are becoming
restive inside Nepal to protect their respective security concerns.
Let me illustrate it with an
example. Pakistani intelligence involvement in racket of pumping counterfeit
Indian currency inside Indian economy from Nepali soil has now become an open
secret. Indian government has formally written to Nepal many times to take
action against the people supposedly involved in this racket. But we, the
Nepali, always take everything very lightly. Thus, the Indian intelligence is
becoming active inside Nepal undermining even the sovereignty of Nepal.
When P. Chidambaram was the
Finance Minister of India, pumping of fake Indian currency from Nepal by
Pakistani nationals had increased dramatically. This had nearly shaken the
entire Indian economy. After the reshuffling of the Indian cabinet, Chidambaram
became Home Minister. Immediately after assuming the post of Home Minister, he
adopted new modus operandi to tackle with the counterfeiters. As a consequence,
Jamim Shah, Shaukat Beg and Majid Munihar were shot dead in broad day light
inside Nepal and attempt of murder was made against Yunus Ansari inside
the custody of central jail of Nepal. All the victims of the attack were
accused by Indian media for being involved in pumping counterfeit money inside
India.
To sum up, Nepal should do two
things to check this situation. Firstly, Nepal should address the legitimate
security concerns of our immediate neighboring countries so that they do not
feel necessary to become active themselves. And secondly, Nepal should sign
extradition treaty with India without compromising its national
interests. That’s all.
Exclusive for telegraphnepal.com
Courtesy: Telegraphnepal.com
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