By William Tucker
Two days after India concluded its “Iron Fist” military exercise near the city of Jaisalmer, Indian police announced they had arrested a Pakistani spy living in the region where the exercises took place. Following a tip, authorities raided the home of the alleged spy and found “strategically important documents” along with a collection of cell phones. Unnamed sources reporting to the Times of India suggested that the accused, Sumer Khan, would speak with an uncle in Pakistan who would then relay information back to Pakistan’s ISI. Further statements claim that Khan had travelled to Pakistan three times to attend ISI training on intelligence collection. Though there’s a lot of information about this case that hasn’t yet been released, it does make sense that Pakistan would use on the ground HUMIT sources to monitor Indian military developments in an area so close to a shared border.
For India, the revealing of this spy case so close to the “Iron Fist” exercise and the recent border clashes with Pakistan in the Kashmir region appears to be a calculated move by Delhi to put pressure on its main adversary right next door. The clashes in Kashmir weren’t exactly routine, but they aren’t unheard of and India wants to take advantage of the situation while Pakistan deals with internal turmoil. Delhi’s reasoning for this is far less nefarious than it may seem, however. With NATO changing, and ultimately planning to withdraw from its mission in Afghanistan, Pakistan will be left with a volatile situation on its northern border that connects with the current bout of internal sectarian conflict. This creates a high level on uncertainty for India and Delhi is wanting to put as much coverage on the Pakistani situation as possible. Though this may be a single arrest, look for more rhetoric, at least more than usual, to emanate from India.
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