Agencies
NEW DELHI, MAY 16
A piece of “highly credible” intelligence input received four months ago that indicated preparations for a “spectacular attack” on Indian assets in Afghanistan had put the country’s security brass on high alert and led to a comprehensive security review. Security agencies are looking at Wednesday’s attack in Kabul, in which four Indians were killed, in this perspective and another review is likely.
The input received earlier this year stood out because it included a specific communication intercept picked up from Rawalpindi, Pakistan, stressing the need to target Indian assets in Afghanistan, said officials familiar with the matter.
Intelligence officials said the “chatter” put the needle of suspicion on the Haqqani network. Once the veracity of this input was established, alarm bells went off in New Delhi.
A hijack alert was sounded for the daily Air India flight to Kabul and extra security checks were added at the Kabul airport. A high-level team was sent to Afghanistan in early February for a thorough review of the security arrangements.
The team comprised representatives from Intelligence Bureau, Research & Analysis Wing — India’s premier external intelligence agency, and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) — the paramilitary outfit deployed to secure Indian assets in Afghanistan.
The team not only reviewed the security of the Indian embassy and the personal security of the ambassador, but also surveyed arrangements for the Afghan parliament building, which is being built by India. The members also visited Indian consulates and key project sites such as Salma dam, where India is the main executing agency.
Following the review, the Air India office in Kabul is being shifted closer to the embassy in Wazir Akbar Khan, the city’s most fortified area that houses high-profile foreign establishments.
The security review, however, did not cover guesthouses frequented by Indians as the input made no specific mention.
Indian security agencies feel Wednesday’s attack, which clearly sought to target Ambassador Amar Sinha, only substantiates the information in the January alert.
The broad assessment is that ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence has been itching to hit Indian assets in Afghanistan to escalate tensions. The Indian consulate in Herat was attacked just before Modi’s swearing-in ceremony.
“We have asked Indians employed with the embassy to be careful about the movement of their family members.
There have been several intelligence inputs that terrorists will try to target the embassy and the employees,” said an official who was part of the review team. Indian embassy was attacked in 2008, which led to the embassy being shifted from Shahr-e-nau to Wazir Akbar Khan.
In 2010, nine Indians were killed, which included doctors working at the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital in Kabul. Among the four Indians killed on Wednesday was an NGO worker from Delhi and a doctor from Andhra Pradesh.
Their bodies were brought to New Delhi in an IAF aircraft on Friday and handed over to family
