Sufi clerics from India detained due to botched ISI operation: report
New Delhi: The detention of two Sufi clerics from Delhi’s Nizamuddin dargah was probably the result of a botched operation by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), a report has said.
The uncle-nephew duo of Asif Nizami and Nizam Nizami were detained by Pakistan intelligence operatives earlier this week on the suspicion that Nizam's frequent visits indicated an underhand agenda, said the report.
The detention was preceded by a report in a Pakistan publication raising doubts over the purpose of the Sufi clerics’ visit to Lahore. The publication had accused the clerics of being R&AW agents, and on their return to India, the clerics had blamed a Pakistani newspaper for their detention.
The detentions were possibly spurred by the suspicion that the frequent trips of Nizam Nizami to Pakistan had probably been "facilitated" by the Indian government, the report said.
As for Asif Nizami, he was a ‘collateral victim’, said the report, having travelled to Pakistan merely to meet his sister living there.
Thus, the Pakistani intelligence agencies could not wheedle any information out of the two Sufi clerics. The operation seems to have been conducted while keeping the Pakistani government in the dark, which also backfired on the ISI, the report said.
After diplomatic heat between India and Pakistan, the two clerics were released for want of evidence.
Pakistan had earlier denied knowledge of the clerics’ whereabouts, before admitting they were in the custody of its intelligence agencies and releasing them.
The report suggested that the clerics’ religious orientation – their affiliation with the Sufi sect of Islam, may also have raised hackles. Orthodox sections of Pakistani society do not see the Sufis as genuine Muslims, and Sufi shrines have been attacked and clerics killed by fundamentalists.
