In the third year of UPA-2, the then prime minister Manmohan Singh called a meeting of top officials of the Special Protection Group (SPG), the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to seek advice on whether the representation of Muslims in the intelligence agencies could be increased, whether they should be allowed to join RAW and whether to end the ban on the entry of Sikhs and Muslims into SPG. The officers reportedly pointed out that any such move would be risky. They asked who would take the blame if something went wrong after the established system was tinkered with. Nothing came out of that meeting and the issue was never raised again.
Intelligence agencies in India have long followed an unwritten ‘no entry’ policy for Muslims (though there have been a few Muslim officers in the IB), while Sikhs are banned from SPG, formed in 1984 to provide security to the prime minister, and the National Security Guard (NSG), the elite anti-terror force functioning under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. “This is not a new policy. There have been no Muslim officers in RAW since its formation in 1969,” says a former RAW officer. “It has its own reasons for following this policy.”
According to a senior IPS officer, the unwritten rule barring Muslims from sensitive wings of the intelligence agencies was extended to the Sikhs as well following the 1984 assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi.
“It is true that Muslims and Sikhs are not deployed for VVIP security. We have witnessed the assassination of a prime minister and a former prime minister (Rajiv Gandhi) in the past due to security lapses. The SPG forms the final security cordon, so we cannot afford to take any risks with it,” says a former police officer, who has worked with the SPG.
Not just RAW and SPG, but the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), which deals with technical surveillance, and Military Intelligence (MI) too have barred the entry of Muslims. “Nothing can be done about it now since it has become the norm and no one finds it odd,” says an MI officer.
Talking to TEHELKA, former special secretary (RAW) Amar Bhushan opined that “there is a conscious effort to keep Muslims out of sensitive and strategic areas”. According to Bhushan, this reflects a bias against the community.
A report published in The Telegraph a few years ago gives credence to this statement. The report claimed that former Union education minister Humayun Kabir’s grandson was denied entry into RAW because he was a Muslim. Kabir was one of those Muslims who chose to stay in India at the time of Partition. “The communal bias in intelligence agencies has persisted since Partition. Many intelligence officials doubt the patriotism of Muslims and that’s why they are not given charge of sensitive desks,” says retired IPS officer SR Darapuri.
Sources close to RAW reveal that there has been a debate over the agency’s recruitment policy since a long time now. But a group of officers have always been strongly averse to the idea of any change. An initiative in this regard was undertaken when PK Hormis Tharakan headed RAW (2005-07). He formed a committee to find ways to ensure that religious bias does not affect recruitment. However, the committee never submitted any report nor did the policy change.
The issue had also been raised during the previous NDA regime. “In the wake of the Kargil war, a committee was formed to prepare a report on the entire intelligence system and suggest what improvements could be made,” recalls a former official. “Brajesh Mishra was the National Security Adviser (NSA) at that time. One of the issues raised in the committee was about how a particular religious community dominated the security agencies, while another was denied access.”
One of the officers who served on that committee reveals that he took up the matter with Mishra. “I told him that we need to bring Muslim officers into our intelligence system,” says the officer. “He laughed at the idea and said, ‘So, tell me, who do you want to recruit? Don’t worry. We can work on it. But give me some better advice. Not one that will cost us our jobs.”
The issue was raised again when JN Dixit was appointed NSA by the UPA. “There were discussions about reforming the recruitment policy. But a faction within RAW rigidly opposed it. They strictly told the government to stop thinking in that direction,” reveals a senior official who was earlier posted with the Union home ministry.
A former RAW official points out the reason why any change in the recruitment policy is a tough call. “See, there is no need to get into it. That would disturb the existing system. Whoever makes the change will have to bear the brunt if something goes wrong in the future, says the official. “I am not against the inclusion of Muslims in the agency. But the time is not right. When so many Indians are found to be involved in Islamic terrorism, it will be treason to even think of it.”
Some people believe it was because of the deep-rooted distrust of Muslims among intelligence officials that the IB conducted a national survey in 1998 to find out if the Muslim community posed any threat to the nation’s internal security. This is revealed by some of the 28 questions in the survey questionnaire. For instance, respondents were asked: In a state of war with Pakistan, will the Muslims stand by India?
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