Nothing official about these secrets

On any working day, there are two-to-five Official Secrets Act (OSA) cases listed in Court No 38. The same courtroom where Kashmiri journalist Iftikar Geelani was discharged last month after the intervention of Defence Minister George Fernandes.

The minister was apparently so outraged at the flimsy evidence certified ‘Official Secrets’ by the Military Intelligence, that he said if need be, he’ll show up in court himself.

Geelani got rid of the OSA after seven months in prison, but now, questions are being raised about other detenues who continue to wear the ignominious tag.

At last count, 28 undertrials of Tihar Jail were facing OSA charges, besides a long list on bail, whose trials are progressing slowly in court.

It is difficult to be judgemental about cases which the investigative agencies treat as sacrosanct but investigations show there may be several Geelanis worthy of discharge.

An examination of stacks of OSA files show that since the ’80s, just one or two persons would be booked under the antiquated 1923 Act every year — and these included the celebrated espionage cases of Coomar Narain and the Larkin brothers.

After the December-13 attack on Parliament, the agencies went on an overdrive. Seven OSA cases were booked in the ensuing year, including that against Geelani.

After Geelani was discharged, two persons have challenged their detentions stating that the so-called ‘secrets’ they are alleged to have passed on to Pakistani agents were worthless compared to sensitive military data splashed by a news magazine.

The Magistrate has ordered an inquiry and asked the Delhi Police to submit a report by March 24.

So, who are these and other faceless OSA detenues?

From the earlier prize catches from the Prime Minister’s Secretariat and top echelons of the Army, the current crop of accused come in the form of serving or retired assistants, technicians, sergeants and drivers. A majority of them are Muslims, some are Pakistanis.

The Sunday Express spoke to many accused, including the duo who filed the recent complaint. Wasi Akhtar Zaidi, one of them, turns out to be a dismissed UP Roadways employee who served a stint in the UP intelligence.

The ‘sensitive’ documents he was caught with are a hand-drawn map of the Meerut Cantonment and a restricted order signed by former Army Chief V N Sharma. Wasi alleges, ‘‘I was taken to the Red Fort. IB officials told me to draw the Meerut Cantonment map as they instructed and threatened me with electric shocks if I refused. That is how I drew it. The other document, I have never seen. Since I have worked for UP intelligence, I know very well how these papers are planted.’’

Mohammad Aslam, an autorickshaw driver, is attending court along with Wasi Akhtar (both were arrested in March 2002) and is described as a ‘‘petty smuggler’’ by the prosecution.

Aslam is in jail for passing on sketches of Delhi and Agra Cantonments, details of units located at Meerut and Roorkee and some amateur photographs of ‘vital installations’ like the Delhi Secretariat, the Okhla Barrage and Indian Oil Corporation.

Says Aslam, ‘‘The sketches were made by IB officials in front of me. And what are these secrets when compared with what appears daily on the internet and in newspapers?’’

Even if counter-allegations of these men are dismissed as predictable, pages from the confidential dossiers maintained by the police, speak volumes about their usefulness for the Pakistanis.

Wasi’s interrogation report, accessed by The Sunday Express (in OSA cases, not supplied to the defence) reveals he was approached by a Pakistani ‘agent’ when he visited the High Commission for a visa.

As he showed the Pakistanis his identity card (forged, he later admitted) he was asked for a dossier on the activities of SIMI. Later, the Pakistanis demanded bio-data of RAW Chief Vikram Sood and IB chief K.P. Singh as well as Sood’s pictures.

This portion of Wasi’s confessional makes an amusing reading, ‘‘In Amar Ujala I saw the picture of Selja Kant Mishra, IG of Meerut Zone, and got it photocopied and then developed to postcard size… I got Shaukat Mehmood the picture of Selja Kant Mishra and told him it was the photo of Vikram Sood, the RAW Chief…he (Shaukat) came back and informed that Hassan Akhtar was happy with my task of procuring pictures and encouraged me to work with devotion… he also gave me Rs 2,000.’’

Among the other ‘tasks’ accomplished by Wasi: Supply of hand-written reports on the activities of SIMI and the Babri Action Committee, and the visit of Benazir Bhutto to India. After his arrest he confessed, ‘‘I consulted Amar Ujala and Dainik Jagaran and on the basis of news articles, I prepared a report on their activities for handing over to Sultan Mehmood.’’

The usefulness of Mohammad Aslam is also catalogued in his confessional statement, maintained in secret police files. According to Aslam, he was approached by the Pakistanis at Attari after goods worth Rs 54,000 which he was carrying were confiscated.

He was asked to pinpoint locations of battalions at Agra, Delhi, Rorkee and Hissar, obviously, not with very encouraging results. This is what he told his interrogators later, ‘‘When I called Pakistan, the Intelligence Officer became very angry on the phone and stated that all the information I furnished him in the last telephone (conversation) is totally vague and no money would be paid for such information…’’ Are these men invaluable Pakistani moles?