Author:
Publication: www.intelligenceonline.net
Date: March 16, 2002
URL: http://www.intelligenceonline.net/india.asp?recno=748&id=0112032030112&sub=Community
Intelligence agencies are baffled
by the use of hi-tech communication systems by karsevaks to organise themselves
for the shila daan and pooja on the undisputed land in Ayodhya yesterday,
top officials disclosed.
The karsevaks' communication lines
could not be penetrated till much after the ishila daan was over.
The Intelligence Bureau started
monitoring landline calls of key Sangha Parivar leaders and karsevaks from
10 March 2002 and began jamming them.
VHP leaders and karsevaks switched
to mobile phones that were also bugged and jammed.
From the afternoon of 14 March 2002,
the Intelligence Bureau jammed the short message service (SMS) on mobile
telephones to prevent karsevaks from communicating.
Publicly, it was stated that the
Mumbai Police jammed the SMS on 15 March because criminals were using it
and the IB had no monitoring mechanism.
Officials say that the karsevaks
were aware that the government would jam their communications.
From 12 March 2002, the karsevaks
created as many as 30 websites and an equal number of IDs.
The heads of large groups of karsevaks
communicated their movement plans via the internet and also kept in touch
with their Sangha Parivar leaders over the net.
'All that the karsevaks needed was
a power connection,' said a senior official.
In addition to the internet, the
karsevaks also used satellite phones.
A chance leak put the Intelligence
Bureau up to the karsevaks' communication channels.
Computer hardware and software specialists
went under the guise of karsevaks to keep the systems in perfect trim,
an official said.
'If there had been no deal between
the Union government and the Sangha Parivar, anything could have happened
in Ayodhya yesterday,' an official said.
'At any rate, we were completely
in the dark about the movement of karsevaks.'
The Intelligence Bureau is planning
a major review of cyber crime shortly and is stepping up awareness of the
cyberworld in the service.
Reports say that the IB also wants
SMS to be permanently withdrawn.
