Pakistan journalist confesses to spying for ISI on India visits
_Vinayak Barot
New Delhi: On July 10, Pakistani Journalist and YouTuber Shakil Chaudhary published an interview with Pakistani Journalist Nusrat Mirza who claimed he spied on India and handed over the information to Pakistan Army he had gathered during his visits to India between 2005 to 2011. Mirza confessed to spying for Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI during his India tours and attended several events in Delhi and Aligarh from 2007 to 2010.
About the process of passing the information to the Pakistani Army, Mirza said, “Khurshid (former Pakistan minister) asked me to hand over the information I had brought to Kayani (General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani (Pakistan’s former Army chief). I said I would not hand over the information to him, but if you want, I am giving you the information. Khurshid handed it over to Kayani,”
During an interview, a journalist and spy, Nusrat Mirza said, “I traveled to India five times. In 2005, he visited Chandigarh, followed by Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai in 2006. On another trip, he covered Kolkata, Patna, and other places,”
Speaking about the contacts he had, Mirza said, “Usually, when Pakistani apply for Visa to India, The Indian government allows you to visit three places. However, at that time, Khurshid Kasuri was the foreign minister who helped me to get Visa for seven cities. I think I understand how India functions. I have studied the circumstances in which Indian Muslims live. I am friends with all the editors of Urdu papers in India. Many news channel owners are good friends. Whenever I have visited India, I have given several interviews,”
On October 27, 2009, in Delhi, Mirza attended the International Conference Against Terrorism at Oberoi hotel. The Pakistani scribe is seen being greeted by Ahmed Bukhari, Shahi Imam of the Jama Masjid and Yahya Bukhari. The event organized by Jama Masjid United Forum was also attended by former Vice President Hamid Ansari and cabinet minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Nusrat Mirza criticized Pakistan politics also for his inability to use the information he had gathered during his India visits. Mirza said, “The problem of Pakistan is – when a new Chief comes, he wipes out the work done by the previous chief and starts with a clean slate.”
“Later they called me and asked if I could get more information like this. I asked them to work on the information I provided. They have a research wing. They have information. They know about the weaknesses in the leadership in India. But they do not use it. Since FATF came, Pakistan has not done any activity in India. It has its hands tied up,” Mirza confessed.
A Spy Mirza in his words said, “I know where separatist movements are happening in India. The main movements are happening in Kashmir and Bengal, but they are not very effective as no one is helping them.”
