Chennai: Intelligence agencies in Tamil Nadu can soon breathe easy following the defeat of Mahinda Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka. Sleuths of the state 'Q' branch police and the Centre's IB bureau in Chennai have been on their toes chasing the agents of the ISI operating out of the Pakistani high commission in Colombo. Helped hugely by the Mahinda regime, particularly the anti-India defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the ISI had found it easy to target south India, particularly Tamil Nadu.
The arrests made in Tamil Nadu in recent months illustrated the increased ISI interest in Tamil Nadu, considering it as a soft target after 'saturating' in Hyderabad and Bangalore. Some of the arrested men in TN confessed to have been working for an ISI official called Siddique working undercover as visa official at the Pakistan high commission in Colombo-he has since been recalled by Islamabad following Indian objections made after the TN arrests.
Mahinda and brother Gotabaya chose to help Pakistan operate its ISI hut in the island-they recruited Muslims in the island as well as in Tamil Nadu for carrying out intelligence gathering operations and also subversion-because the Rajapaksas wanted to pay back Islamabad for its supply of battle hardware in the final phase of the Eelam war. It may be recalled that in his victory rally soon after the defeat of the LTTE in May 2009, Mahinda had openly acknowledged the big help-supply of heavy artillery-he got from China and Pakistan whereas India dithered due to domestic compulsions (read pressure from Tamil Nadu).
"South India, particularly Tamil Nadu, has always been an island of peace but of late, there have been some episodes to worry us, mostly traced to the Pakistan high commission in Colombo. We hope things will improve in the coming days because of the regime change in Sri Lanka. We must wait and watch; can't go overboard with optimism", said a senior intelligence officer, requesting anonymity.
