All of us are aware of the phrase ‘black-sheep’ or proverb ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’. Two-times Vice President of India, Hamid Ansari is one of them, who had betrayed with his country and secretly joined hands with notorious Iranians, thus causing massive damage to India’s intelligence establishment.
According to information, NK Sood, a former officer of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), through his Twitter account @rawnksood on June 28, 2019, has made explosive allegations against Ansari stating, he [Ansari], while serving as Indian ambassador to Iran between 1990-1992 had endangered the lives of RAW officers in Tehran and even ended up exposing its set-up in Iran.
On July 5, 2019, in another tweet, Sood wrote: “Rata Sehgal was Additional Secretary in IB [Intelligence Bureau] and he was later found to be working for CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] and help[ed] passing on documents to CIA lady agent in Delhi. He should have been arrested, jailed and dismissed. But was asked to resign and allowed to go. Now he is settled in [the] US”.
Sood retired from RAW in 2010.
According to a report published in The Sunday Guardian, Sood has written to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking an inquiry into the case of Hamid Ansari’s betrayal and for “damaging the RAW operations” when he was posted as ambassador in Iran.
These officers, who were posted in Tehran during Ansari’s tenure, had first approached the Indian Prime Minister in August 2017 seeking investigation against Ansari, but surprisingly, Modi has not shown any interest in doing so.
In their complaint to the Prime Minister, these officers have claimed that Ansari, while being posted in Tehran, “not only failed to protect India’s national interest, but cooperated with the Iranian government and its intelligence agency SAVAK to cause a serious dent to RAW and its operations”.
According to them, there were four major incidents when Indian Embassy officials, diplomats were kidnapped by SAVAK and Ansari deliberately failed in his duties to protect India’s interest.
It may be mentioned here that, Iran’s notorious spy agency SAVAK was officially disbanded in 1979 and a new organization, Sazman-e Ettela’at va Amniat-e Melli-e Iran, was formed. However, intelligence agencies, including RAW, even till date, continue to refer to the Iranian spy agency by its old name.
NK Sood said, in May 1991, one Indian official named Sandeep Kapoor was kidnapped from the Tehran airport, by SAVAK. When the issue was brought before Ansari, he downplayed it despite RAW station chief — who was in Dubai during this incident, had to fly back considering the gravity of the situation and had briefed Hamid Ansari on the matter.
Instead of taking any initiatives in tracing the abducted official, Ansari sent a confidential report to the Ministry of External Affairs stating Kapoor was missing and his activities were under the radar of Iranian authorities because Kapoor was having illicit relations with a local woman. Hamid Ansari had deliberately suppressed the fact of being briefed by RAW and involvement of SAVAK behind the abduction of the Indian official, Sood added.
After three days of his abduction, an anonymous phone call to the Indian Embassy in Tehran informed that Kapoor was lying in a particular place on the roadside. Later he was rescued by the Indian officials. Sandeep Kapoor was heavily drugged and the after-effect of it lasted for several years.
Despite RAW’s suggestions of filing a protest with the Iranian regime, Ansari, because of his extreme romance with the Iranian mullahs, did not take any such steps.
There are many such incidents when Hamid Ansari had exhibited his total loyalty to the Iranian regime instead of looking into the interest of his own country.
During August 1991, RAW was monitoring activities of some Kashmiri jihadists, who were regularly visiting Iranian religious and recreation center named Qom, where they were getting military training. As the matter came to the knowledge of Hamid Ansari, passed the name of the RAW team leader D.B. Mathur to SAVAK and subsequently, the RAW officer was picked up by the members of the Iranian agency. As the matter was brought into the attention of Indian leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee and subsequently Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, after 72 hours of his abduction, Mathur was released from Iran’s infamous Evin prison. It may be mentioned here that, Evin Prison has been accused of committing serious human rights abuses against its political dissidents and critics of the government. Hundreds and thousands of female prisoners were raped inside this prison by the prison guards as well as members of the Revolutionary Guards prior to their execution.
In his letter to the Indian Prime Minister, Sood also mentioned an incident where P.K. Venugopal, the RAW station chief, was picked up by SAVAK and beaten up before being released. Ansari never lodged a complaint with Iranian authorities.
Sood claims that Ansari’s prolonged and regular meetings with Pakistan Ambassador in Tehran was also not reported to the MEA.
Untold facts about Hamid Ansari
What the Indian intelligence establishment was not aware is, Hamid Ansari was not only having extreme intimacy with the Iranian regime, he also was under monthly payroll of the Pakistani spy agency Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI). He had hosted Indian envoys in Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Bahrain with the ulterior motive of extracting details about the RAW activities in those countries and had secretly passed the information to his Pakistani counterpart.
Hamid Ansari also was regularly supplied young Iranian girls by SAVAK while he was having a temporary wife named Shirin under Iran’s notorious Muta’ah marriage law.
It may also be mentioned here that Hamid Ansari had proposed setting of Shariah court in each of the districts in India. Following his retirement, Ansari has made numerous comments which went against India’s image.
Hamid Ansari has attended a program organized by militant Islamic organization named Popular Front of India (PFI), which has been accused by India’s National Investigative Agency (NIA) for its role in controversial love jihad cases in Kerala. He even defended and applauded those students who had protested the removal of Pakistani leader Jinnah’s portrait at Aligarh Muslim University.
It may be mentioned here that Hamid Ansari has authored a number of books on Iran including a book named Iran Today. He is a Distinguished Fellow at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi and a Visiting Professor at the Academy of Third World Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia. He is a former Vice Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University. Ansari has served as India’s ambassador to the UAE, Afghanistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia, as High Commissioner to Australia, and as Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
It is unknown if Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will initiate an investigation into the case of Hamid Ansari. But of course, for the sake of punishing someone who had betrayed with his own country, people like Hamid Ansari should definitely be tried and at least imprisoned for life on charges of high treason and sedition.
(The author is the editor of Blitz. Follow him on Twitter at Salah_Shoaib)
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
