Vidukun Quisling and Lendup Dorje are names that figure poorly and recur when someone in Nepal wishes to invoke the height of treachery or traitors. The true faces of such duo take command when referring to those that have been completely exposed for operating stealthily. Quisling, the Norwegian politician who allied himself with the Nazis in an effort to enforce Fascism in his country, is reviled even more than 55 years after the end of World War II. His own community shunned Lendup Dorje to such an extent that he spent the autumn of his life regretting his role in “assimilating” Sikkim in India. But he died unsung and unwept. This did not surprise anyone.
ALLUREMENTS
As Champer Pincher tells in his highly readable “Traitors: The Labyrinths of Treason” (1987: 31): “Not all traitors are spies. There are many Quislings—a term now in common usage for those who openly side with the enemy in war, or even with a potential enemy in peace, exhorting others to do the same […] He denied that he had committed treason but was eventually executed for that crime after the German defeat.”
Spies are recruited and deployed everywhere in a battle of wits and skills to net the best and the brightest who serve as loyal and competent hands for pilfering valuable information for the good of the recruiting government. Constant efforts are also made to recruit agents from foreign intelligence agencies. Hence counter-intelligence cells operate to keep tabs on their own folks in the intelligence. When something unusual happens or a series of mishaps take place, the counter-intelligence cell works overtime in piecing things together, scanning for the black sheep who might be running with them but hunting with hounds.
Some of the potential recruits are driven by a desire for excitement, revenge and other grudges and prejudices. Some want to lead a life of influence and affluence in the very society they wish to drift around. The strength of access and the length of service rendered to their paymasters reveal the damage they do to the betrayed.
Not everything is a cloak and dagger business in the world of espionage. Sex, money and power are some of the tools and allurements. Cash induces some; others are seduced by sex; and yet others entrapped by some other weaknesses for which they do not mind compromising state secrets. The recruiting bosses cash in on such vulnerabilities.
Proximity to influential people, access to information and prospects of influencing others or even a nuisance value are assets that might attract those on the “talent” hunt. Abundant thrills lead many to the business to do the chilling callings that shock their country folks when disclosures are made and yet attract enormous approvals from those who they actually work for. They also serve as agent provocateur.
As such, some are induced to do the calling, others seduced by other allurements and yet others are reduced to being puppets performing and producing results at the beck and call of their paymasters. Findings have indicated that men are found to be entrapped more by purely sex than women who are attracted also by love. In other words, some are compromised; some find themselves lost in lust; and love attracts others. Sex secures what money might not buy; fear extracts what tears might not melt.
The trait of a traitor is to betray trust. Those recruiting agencies operate “through politicians, trade union leaders and journalists, some of whom are unwitting while others are fully aware of what they are doing”.
JOURNALISTS TOO!
Journalism serves as a fertile and productive field both for a seemingly “legitimate” cover and pave way for meeting the “right” people at quick time and obtain information of their particular interest.
In his “India’s External intelligence: Secrets of Research and Analysis Wing”, V.K. Singh [2007: 13] writes: “Intelligence agency in India is no easy task. For one, there is very little information in the public domain. Ironically, we know more about the CIA than about RAW, because everything about the former is on their official website. The Right to Information Act has been passed but the intelligence agencies are beyond its purview. The Official Secrets Act, 1923, was draconian law passed during British rule, to be used against Indians who were found to be acting against British imperialist interests. Though totally out of date, the law has not been repealed, in spite of vociferous demands from many quarters.”
The former RAW agent describes the “honey-trap” as the favourite trick employed by foreign agencies seeking classified information originating in India. RAW’s detailed organisation, size and funding are not known to Parliament. Lack of parliamentary supervision has raised questions from experts. RAW’s budget is outside the purview of audit. The Finance Ministry is aware of the amount of money allocated for the agency “but no one knows how it is spent”.
And how do Nepal’s intelligence agencies work? Public impression is far from flattering. In the past, many agents were recruited on party lines. Giving “jobs” was the main motive of those at the helm of the related affairs. Spies were known to have functioned in the garb of journalists and, at times, journalists doubled as agents as well.
This should change. Press Council Nepal and Federation of Nepalese Journalists—the latter being the single-largest body representing at least two-thirds of all claiming to be journalists—should take initiatives for doing away with such practices and inaugurate the era of professionally transparent functioning of the news media.
It would be best if a law were enacted barring the recruitment of journalists as aides for intelligence agencies. Likewise, intelligence personnel should not be allowed to masquerade as journalists. Something stinks because journalists in private conversations make a clean breast of their suspicions but are reluctant to raise the issue in black and white!
Without comment
Gokul Pokhrel, former president of Nepal Press Institute, in The Himalayan Times: “We are operating with tribal mindsets that frown at voice of dissent rather than providing respect to it.
