- EURASIAREVIEW.COM - A la une - 29/Jul 00:36

Pakistan: ISI And Unwavering Malignancy – Analysis

By Sanchita Bhattacharya On July 23, 2025, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested four Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) terrorists in simultaneous operations. The four arrested include Fardin Sheikh, Mahammad Faique, Jishan Ali and Saifullah Qureshi. They were in regular touch and exchanged crucial information with the Pakistan Army and its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) during Operation Sindoor. The four men are accused of sharing on social media, radical and provocative content, including AQIS jihadi propaganda videos, with an aim to uproot the democratic system and implement sharia (Islamic law) in India, through an armed rebellion. As reported on June 26, 2025, Vishal Yadav, a clerk at the Indian Navy headquarters in New Delhi, was arrested by the Intelligence Wing of the Rajasthan Police on charges of espionage for suspectedly sharing sensitive military information with the ISI during Operation Sindoor. Authorities revealed that he had been spying for an extended period, sharing classified information about the Navy and other defence units via his mobile phone. He was reportedly in constant contact with a female ISI handler, operating under the alias Priya Sharma, who had lured him into a honeytrap through social media. He received payments through cryptocurrency transactions and direct bank transfers. As reported on July 15, 2025, the April 22 terrorist attack at Baisaran Maidan in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), was jointly planned by ISI and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), under directives from Pakistan’s political and military leadership. The attack squad was led by Sulaiman, a suspected former Pakistani Special Forces commando, trained at LeT’s Muridke camp in the Punjab Province of Pakistan, who was armed with an M-4 rifle. On May 29, 2025, the Delhi Police arrested Mohammad Kasim from Bharatpur District in Rajasthan, on charges of espionage, suspectedly carried out on ISI’s directions. The accused, was in contact with his handler in ISI through encrypted messaging apps and social media platforms. The Delhi Police disclosed that Kasim had travelled to Pakistan twice, first in August 2024 and again in March 2025, and stayed there for about 90 days. On May 1, 2025, Rajasthan Intelligence arrested Pathan Khan for spying for ISI, from the Jaisalmer District of Rajasthan. He was detained around a month earlier for questioning and was formally arrested on May 1. Khan had visited Pakistan in 2013, where he came in contact with ISI officers. He was lured with money, the agency revealed. Even after 2013, he continued meeting ISI officers by going to Pakistan and kept sharing sensitive and confidential information related to the Jaisalmer International Border with Pakistani handlers. On February 14, 2025, a Nepalese origin ISI agent, Ansarul Miya Ansari was arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police at Vishwas Nagar in East Delhi. Following this arrest, a Pakistani espionage network operating across West Asia, Nepal, and India was exposed. Significantly, at the time of his arrest, authorities recovered a laptop and printer, several confidential Army documents, a copy of the Army training brochure titled "Fighting in Built-Up Areas – 1982", and deployment manuals and materials marked 'SECRET' and 'CONFIDENTIAL'. According to partial data collated by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), since 2000, 630 ISI agents have been arrested in India, in 313 incidents (data till July 27, 2025). Founded in 1948 by Australian-born British Army officer Major General Walter Joseph Cawthorn, ISI was modelled on the British MI6. Trained by the CIA and the SDECE (which was then the French secret service), with an India-centric focus, its early personnel were from the military and the civilian employees of the pre-partition Intelligence Bureau. The ISI officially has seven sections: Joint Intelligence X (JIX), Joint Intelligence Bureau (JIB), Joint Counter Intelligence Bureau (JCIB), Joint Intelligence/North (JIN), Joint Intelligence Miscellaneous (JIM), Joint Signal Intelligence Bureau (JSIB) and Joint Intelligence Technical Division (JIT). JIN concentrates on Jammu and Kashmir, conducting operations and supporting various terrorist proxies in the State, and also monitoring Indian forces in the region. JIX serves as the Agency’s secretariat; JIB monitors political intelligence; JCIB is responsible for oversees intelligence operations in Central Asia, South Asia, Afghanistan, the Middle East, Israel and Russia, and is also responsible for field surveillance of Pakistani diplomats stationed abroad; JIM is responsible for covert offensive intelligence operations and war time espionage; JSIB operates a chain of signals intelligence collection stations and provides communication support to its operatives; and JIT is a covert unit with a separate explosives section and a chemical warfare section. These various sections within ISI have been spreading operations across many countries of the world. ISI has a keen eye on Bangladesh, with a particular escalation of activities after Sheikh Hasina’s exit from power. As reported on May 6, 2025, coordinated by ISI, several Hamas leaders attended meetings in Bangladesh to instigate anti-India propaganda and radicalise youth. especially for promoting the jihadist ideology and activities in India’s Northeast. On January 21, 2025,Rawalpindi secretly dispatched a senior delegation to Dhaka. This was the first time in nearly two decades that ISI officially visited Bangladesh. A senior official from Bangladesh's Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) received the ISI delegation at the airport upon its arrival aboard an Emirates Airlines flight routed via Dubai. Bangladesh has been grappling with the problem of Rohingya refugees since several years and, as reported on July 18, 2025, many of the Rohingyas have received ideological and paramilitary training from ISI. Similarly, in Afghanistan, ISI has long been deeply embroiled. As reported on January 11, 2025, the country’s former Vice President, Amrullah Saleh, mentioned that there were more than 150 ISI officials in the Pakistani Embassy at Kabul. According to Saleh, immediately after the Taliban returned to power (August 2021), ISI deployed its covert and overt cadres in Kabul, to safeguard Pakistan’s interests and spread terrorism across the world. The removal of “Indian proximity sentiments" from Afghan media is a prime objective of the ISI in Kabul. Earlier, in May, 2024, a covert operation was led by a team code-named Jabhaa Rubaat, directly controlled by ISI, which remains active in the eastern and southeastern provinces of Afghanistan, including Paktika, Kunar, Nuristan, Nangarhar, Paktia, and Khost. The group’s primary objective was to identify and eliminate anti-Pakistan movements and individuals within Afghanistan. ISI activities in Nepal primarily focused on countering Indian influence in the region and support various Islamist and separatist groups. As reported on May 22, 2025, Indian Intelligence agencies unearthed a plot orchestrated by ISI to carry out a major terrorist strike in India, one that was in the works before the Pahalgam killings. The breakthrough came with the arrest of a Nepali-origin ISI agent, Ansarul Miya Ansari (mentioned above). During interrogation, Ansari disclosed critical information about ISI’s extensive espionage network and revealed that he had been tasked with procuring and sending classified military documents to Pakistan. Further, at Pakistan’s behest, Turkey is increasingly involved in germinating radical Islamist ideologies along the Indo-Nepal border, funding multiple projects to extend the network of madrassas and mosques in the border areas. Turkish intelligence and ISI are working together to destabilise mainland India. As reported on July 9, 2025, Turkish NGO IHH (Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief), which is associated with extremist groups, has extended its activities in Indo-Nepal border region. The motto of the ISI “Take Your Precautions”, is taken from verse 4:71 of the Quran which states: “O you who have believed, take your precaution and [either] go forth in companies or go forth all together.” The ISI is headed by Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (DGISI), presently Lieutenant General Asim Malik. Under the DGISI there are three Deputy Directors General (DDG), each Two Star...