New Delhi, Feb. 1 (ANI): Expressing disappointment over the explosive revelation that former Pakistan Army Chief Pervez Musharraf had crossed the Line of Control (LoC) in 1999 and spent a night on the Indian-controlled side, defence analyst Bharat Verma on Friday said this latest disclosure is a major setback for Indian intelligence agencies.
Verma, who was responding to a poser on Pakistan Army Colonel (Retired) Ashfaq Hussain's book 'Witness to Blunder' wherein, he has exposed Pervez Musharraf and blamed him for the unwarranted aggression against India in 1999, and revealed that the former army chief had himself crossed over the LoC, said 'the revelation by Colonel Hussain, a former member of the ISI, Pakistan Army, in his book is a very major setback for India's intelligence agencies'.
"If an army chief of an enemy country with four-star ranking is spending a night eleven kilometres inside Indian territory, it's a total collapse of the intelligence services of India, whether it is RAW, IB or military intelligence. That a general of the Pakistan Army can come in, can plan, can sleep inside Indian territory. And here, we are not talking of across the border intelligence, we are talking of intelligence failure right inside our own territory which is very difficult to digest for a citizen of this country," said Verma.
"The problem is that the amount of money a taxpayer is spending on security architecture, it is not giving the relevant output or the output that should have come to secure the nation. The nation is getting more and more insecure due to these continuous failures on behalf of the intelligence community," he added.
Hussain in his book says that 'the Kargil misadventure was masterminded by Major General Javed Hassan, General Mehmood and General Aziz. They made Musharraf agree to the plans, which later lead to a limited conflict between India and Pakistan'.
Leading television channels in India and Pakistan are quoting Hussain as claiming that Musharraf had himself crossed the LoC and spent a night on the Indian-controlled side.
"On 28th March 1999 General Pervez Mushrraf crossed 11 kms beyond the LoC on a helicopter and was escorted by Colonel Amjad Shabbir at a location named Zakriya"Mustakar," he says. (ANI)