Indian troop deployment plan leaked to ISI within hours

RAWALPINDI: Shocking revelations have exposed the frail security set-up in the South Block, housing the defence ministry from where an Indian Army deployment plan was leaked to Pakistan’s ISI in February last year.
Aaj Tak has revealed that details of a meeting between then defence minister AK Antony and then army chief General Bikram Singh on troop movement in Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir borders reached the Pakistan Army, which accordingly countered the Indian plan, stated an article published in the Daily Mail.
The meeting between Antony and Bikram Singh took place on February 15, 2014, at 11am, lasting an hour.After the meeting, the army chief briefed then Director General Military Operation (DGMO) Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia about the redeployment plan.
It was noticed that within a few hours, the Pakistan Army had begun redeploying its troops to counter the Indian plan. Alarm bells started ringing in the Indian Army about the shocking “leak”. The Army chief immediately informed the defence minister, who then briefed the then prime minister Manmohan Singh.
A meeting of the army top brass was later held with Manmohan Singh, who visited the DGMO war room. The army managed to identify the “mole”, who was a senior officer who had leaked the operational details to ISI. He was court-martialled.
As a follow-up step, the security of the entire South Block was beefed up with the installation of CCTV cameras.Then DGMO Lt. Gen. (R) Vinod Bhatia said: “The leak did happen… there is always an insider hand.”
But Antony chose not to give details. “I do not comment…I don’t want to say anything now.”
Former army chief General Bikram Singh also preferred not to talk about the incident. “I retired a year ago, check with the army headquarters,” he said.
Asked if the minutes between the then defence minister and the army chief in February 2014 were leaked, the then DGMO Bhatia said: “No security system is foolproof. A leak did happen, how it happened is a different matter, but I can assure you whenever this kind of leak happens, we do re-check our security system and make it foolproof. Whatever happened that time, shouldn’t have happened. We will ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
When asked if there was a lapse and whether it was an insider job, he replied: “There is an old saying ‘ghar ka bhedi lanka dhaye’. There is always insider hand, why does he do it? How does he do it? Whom does he do it for? Important thing is it’s an insider job. I cannot reveal the steps taken publicly, but steps were taken. It is almost a year, but whenever information is leaked, the system will be corrected.”