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Intel sharing with Pakistan and US

Indrani Bagchi, 24 May 2009, 01:20 PM IST

Is there "much of a muchness" being made of intelligence sharing between India, Pakistan and the US on terrorists and terrorism? A recent story in The Wall Street Journal created a bit of a buzz that India and Pakistan, though ostensibly not talking to each other are actually showing undercover cooperation by collaborating on terrorists and terror groups.

According to the story, 'The Central Intelligence Agency arranged for Pakistan and India ( to share information on Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group widely blamed for last November's terrorist attack on Mumbai, as well as on Taliban commanders who are leading the insurgency against Pakistan's government, said US officials.

'The US is stressing to Indian and Pakistani leaders that they face a common threat in Pakistan-based militant groups. Washington hopes that when India sees the intelligence and evidence that Islamabad is seriously fighting the militants in some areas, it will ease its deployments against Pakistan -- which in turn would prompt Islamabad to put even more focus on the battle at home. "We have to satisfy the Mumbai question, and show India that the threat is abating," said a US official involved in developing Washington's South Asia strategy.

The truth is, as always, a lot more complex. It is absolutely correct, say my sources here, that the CIA had tried to get India and Pakistan to try and share information on the terror groups in Pakistan after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. The Journal says, "Intelligence sharing on Mumbai has led to a somewhat more frequent exchange of information, US and Pakistani officials said. India and Pakistan have shared "a lot" of information with each other about the Mumbai attack, said an official at Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency. He said the CIA was initially used as a conduit but the two countries now work directly with each other, while keeping the CIA in the loop. The official cautioned, "We're not going to tell them everything we know and they're not going to tell us everything they know. Nobody expects that to happen. ... But we're talking about [the attack]. We weren't doing that in December."

In the early days after the attacks, when India was scrambling for information, the CIA and FBI proved to be of invaluable help. That was around the time, a mechanism was thought to "share" information between India and Pakistan, of course, with full disclosure on both sides.

This, presumably, was the reason why national security adviser, MK Narayanan told a TV interviewer that the Pakistanis had "asked a number of questions" which, he indicated, pointed to their taking the Mumbai investigations seriously.

But soon, Indian officials said they ran into a familiar problem with the Pakistanis that killed the credibility of this mechanism. As some officials told me, "we gave them stuff, then found that they spent their time wondering where the Indians got the information from, rather than act on it." So Indians have significantly backtracked, and now pay little more than lip-service to this arrangement.

Besides, Pakistan has not yet turned the corner on terrorism, Taliban or the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Pakistan is still not convinced that the Taliban is a greater threat than India, no matter how hard the Americans try to convince them of it. To that extent, Pakistan does not have any reason to compromise their terror assets against India. They have now been helped by the perception that the US administration is willing to buy their objections against the "India clause" in the Congressional aid package.

That said, India-US intelligence cooperation has ramped up significantly. Certainly the trust deficit that had been there in earlier years is now virtually history. Although, I have to say, that the real game-changing experience in this respect was the July 7, 2008 Kabul bombing of the Indian embassy. It was the Americans who gave India the most detailed briefings on the specific ISI wing that actually directed the attack. In the aftermath of Mumbai, we have made a much better case, and the US is much more amenable, to intel cooperation with India particularly on the groups that are expressly targeting India like the LET, JEM and their ilk. That's a big step we have all taken in the past few months.

In the end, what saved India, Pakistan and Obama's Af-Pak policy was the fact that for the past two months, while India was going through its electoral labours, there were no terror attacks from Pakistan. Whether it was the result of good intelligence that foiled and pre-empted attacks or just coincidence or that the Pakistanis had warned the terror groups, we will never know. Probably a combination of factors.

Nevertheless, India and Pakistan are both sceptical, the US is clutching at straws to get its Pak-Af policy to show some results, so all this talk of sharing may be hope triumphing over experience.

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Prof Ramesh Manghirmalani-Paris says:

May 24,2009 at 02:30 PM IST

Indraniji: Intel Sharing will never ever happen between Pakistan and India on sensitive subjects, This is a trick Pakistani via USA is setting up, to see India source of intelligence from Pakistan , The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) arranged for the two South Asian nations to share information on the Pakistan-based militant organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), widely accused of plotting the November attacks in Mumbai.I would love to see the Indian government and the Pakistan government re-engage in confidence-building measures and discussions about Kashmir and about other areas of difference, India should never share intelligence with Pakistan. Islamabad wants to know the source of India intelligence.I proposed to let the intelligence chiefs meet... There should be a hotline between the intelligence chiefs and national security advisers of India and Pakistan so that we can share information timely and collectively in dealing with the menace-What happened?

Ankit Ajmera says:

May 24,2009 at 05:50 PM IST

It's been great to hear that someway through the help provided by USA and the collabrative efforts of India and Pakistan are paying off and the likes of any terrorist attacks are not seen in the past few months. But how long it will continue will only aunthenticate this well sounded proposition or truth. What I believe is that it is one more way to tranquilize us before backstabbing us with another terrorist attack. So beware of these tactics...

Ankit Ajmera says:

May 24,2009 at 05:50 PM IST

S.M.Singru says:

May 24,2009 at 07:57 PM IST

While one cannot assume total expertise & inside knowledge on such a complex security issue, there are some logical & straightforward aspects which come to one’s mind:
Firstly, is intelligence sharing a prelude or a postlude to normalization of relations between two countries? For example, USA & Russia do not share intelligence except on rare occasions when both feel gravely threatened by a common enemy. Or, is one talking of the possibility that by sharing intelligence, a kind of “open skies” approach will prevail which, in effect, will reduce the aggression capability of both countries, leading to a better chance for peace?
Secondly, is it possible to share intelligence on a highly selective basis, without giving the other nation an unintended strategic advantage? There are bound to be some unintended side effects of even a restricted sharing of intelligence, but as long as these are not of major consequence, this could be treated as a small price a nation has to pay for such a political step. This indeed highlights the care & caution with which such a decision has to be taken.
Thirdly, it is well known that Pakistan’s entire security apparatus is riddled with infiltrators who hold allegiance to Taliban. There has also been some conjecture that LeT & empathic organizations have a sizeable followership within this system. If this is true, will the sharing of intelligence not sabotage & cripple our offensive against terrorism?
One can only hope that these concerns will be taken into account, so that a fiasco like India’s IPKF adventure into Sri Lanka ( or the intelligence operation to rescue Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from Bangla Desh) will not be repeated.

Sanyam Kataria says:

May 24,2009 at 10:19 PM IST

Pakistan is definitely more clever than the India. Pakistan earlier said that it has build nukes for India,if India will destroy its nukes only then Pakistan is going to destroy its nukes.

So there is no point in believing this nation and sharing this type of secret information with a nation which is never been democratic at all.

S.M.Singru says:

May 25,2009 at 08:05 PM IST

While one cannot assume total expertise & inside knowledge on such a complex security issue, there are some logical & straightforward aspects which come to one’s mind:
Firstly, is intelligence sharing a prelude or a postlude to normalization of relations between two countries? For example, USA & Russia do not share intelligence except on rare occasions when both feel gravely threatened by a common enemy. Or, is one talking of the possibility that by sharing intelligence, a kind of “open skies” approach will prevail which, in effect, will reduce the aggression capability of both countries, leading to a better chance for peace?
Secondly, is it possible to share intelligence on a highly selective basis, without giving the other nation an unintended strategic advantage? There are bound to be some unintended side effects of even a restricted sharing of intelligence, but as long as these are not of major consequences, this could be treated as a small price a nation has to pay for such a political step. This indeed highlights the care & caution with which such a decision has to be taken.
Thirdly, it is well known that Pakistan’s entire security apparatus is riddled with infiltrators who hold allegiance to Taliban. There has also been some conjecture that LeT & empathic organizations have a sizeable followership within this system. If this is true, will the sharing of intelligence not sabotage & cripple our offensive against terrorism?
One can only hope that these concerns will be taken into account, so that a fiasco like India’s IPKF adventure into Sri Lanka ( or the intelligence operation to rescue Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from Bangla Desh) will not be repeated.

Suraj says:

May 26,2009 at 05:45 PM IST

You can never trust Pakisthan Govt. It is a deadly combinations of its officials working closely with ISI & Taliban (in various names). All the what Pakisthan is trying to do is gain more relief funds from the US to make its corrupt officials rich & divert funds to terriorists.

A neighbour who is satying next door will know better than one staying 100 kms away. I feel sorry for the citizens in Pak who are not given the right information.

Pak has already washed its citizens brains with hatred texts in primary & secondary education.

Brijesh says:

May 29,2009 at 04:17 AM IST

Thinking logically, one can sit back and work out what's Pakistan's and US's agenda or motive in involving different parties in intel sharing business. What's there for India? What is India going achieve by sharing Intel? Why would US and Pak want to help India by sharing Intel? Is this whole exercise to prove that Taliban or LeT or ISI is the root of issues? But, you can't do that because you are working with ISI now in the Intel sharing. Or is India expecting to get the culprits out of Pakistan and put them to justice somewhere?
This is a naive question to all those who are reading or responding to this tag - What is there for India or What will India get out of this?

As far as my personal opinion is concerned, it would be good to see some kind of aggresion from India rather than always seeing them react defensively. My definition of agrresion does not imply war.

Ken J. Singh says:

June 25,2009 at 02:07 AM IST

Real Intelligence is to know God, All of this nonsense intelligence is to further destroy what ever peace is left in the world. Do you think the average farmer from India, Pakistan, America, or China needs this kind of information, or to be part off, Only Godless,and untruthful people on the planet engage in type of activity, The only people who benefit from this evil act are those who manufacture ammunitation for killing innocent people.