The day I was threatened by a ISI official in Delhi

30 January , 2008


" Mr Sharma, mind telling me whats that on your neck " asked the official in the Pakistani High Commission in Delhi . " Its a mole " I said . " hmmm , be careful ....they say people who have a mole in their neck die a very violent death " retorted the official . " Look at Mohtarma Benazir and her late father ...both had moles in their necks and look what happened to them " . For a moment , I just did not know if I was threatened or was being advised to play it safe . Clearly my report on LAAL MASJID has ruffled many feathers in the Pakistani High commission . In fact , I was still denied a visa to Pakistan and continue to be denied one . I was amongst the celebrated few in the Indian journalists community who probably have been blacklisted . My fault ; for entering the LAAL masjid which was according to the officials at the High Commission out of bounds for me .

But clearly, anyone following the developments in Pakistan knew that the attack on LAAL MASJID was a watershed in the History of Pakistan . As a journalist I wanted to know what has become of the LAAL MASJID , that had witnessed such violent clashes on the 10th July 2007 , unprecedented in Islamabad and culminated with the death of the rebel leader Ghazi baba, who had put the Pakistani army on bay for so many days . I wanted explore the legacy of the attack on LAAL MASJID and I also wanted to see if the scars still remain . To my utter shock, what me and my cameraperson Satinder Singh Negi discovered was something much more sinister . We were in a place that had actually sown the seeds of the death of Benazir Bhutto . I still cant get over the words of the present IMAAM of LAAL MASJID AAMIR SIDDIQUE( who is the nephew of Ghazi Baba who was killed by Musharraf and his army ) .." Ek din Islamabad Baghdad me tabdeel ho jaayega " Islamabad will turn into Baghdad one day . Prophetic words indeed because Pakistan still bleeds and the fires of radical thought still burn unchecked . LAAL MASJID SEIGE is often quoted by extremists to recruit work force for the Jehadi factory . Consider this address by Osama Bin Laden to the Pakistani people released by the Alqaeda's media cell AS-SAHAB ...

" Be careful from being pleased with Zardari and Yousuf Riza, for they are both outside the fold of the religion of Muhammad (r), and fight it. It is obligatory upon you to reject all those who support them, even if it be with their speech, especially the evil scholars and the evil media, those who just yesterday gave cover to the former agent (Musharraf) for committing the great atrocity of attacking the Red Mosque, killing both its male and female students, holding spite for nothing other than the fact that they called for the establishment of Allah’s Shariah, spilling their innocent blood, this is how we reckon and Allah is the final Reckoner, over the places of bowing and prostration, all to please America who in turn praised him for this, may Allah punish him as he deserves."

I was just standing outside the Laal masjid ON THE 29TH OF DECEMBER , 2007 and doing what we in television call a "walkabout" translated as a walk in front of the camera describing the background . It was at this moment , I saw a bearded guy walking towards me , looking at me with a smile on his face . He was Syed Hussain , one of the characters in my special . I discovered that Hussain was in the LAAL MASJID administrative committee. I started talking to him and after much cajoling I convinced him to speak to him on camera. After the initial reluctance, he spoke openly criticizing President Musharraf and his misadventure in LAAL MASJID . All this while I was thinking of entering the Masjid and after the interview , that was the request I made to him . After a plain " no" , I told him that this is a show meant for the Indian audience and will reach a much wider world audience and that I needed to see what is happening inside the mosque and why has it now being painted to white and why has it been reduced to a pitiful condition of its glorious original self.

Hussain went inside and came back in half an hour to escort us inside . I was lucky because the ISI guys who usually traill all Indian journalist had left by then . Negi my cameraman and I entered the mosque only to be shut in a room in the mosque . I asked myself and Negi " have we made a blunder by entering the mosque ? Why have we been isolated like this ? " Images of Daniel pearl started running through my head . Luckily I had a mobile phone and I kept sending messages to my wife and my colleague telling them about my situation then . It was pitch dark outside and we were already shut in that room for over an hour now . My hands and feet were numb with fear by then . I wanted to do a piece to camera , but I just could not utter anything , maybe I was overreacting , which I discovered I was. Hussain entered and told us that he was just checking if the ISI guys were outside the mosque . And then , Aamir Siddique , the IMAAM of the mosque ( also the nephew of Ghazi baba ) made an entry . There was complete silence in the room . He said that he agred to give this interview only because mine was an Indian channel and that he did not trust any Pakistani channel . The interview started and ended in fifteen minutes . I was horrified to discover that Aamir Siddique did not have much sympathy for Benazir's death . To quote him , this is just the beginning . " aap dekhte jaiye Islamabad , Baghdad me tabdeel ho jayega " . I was shown around the mosque , was taken to places that had bullet marks and blood stains . Yes , blood stains , which have not disapeared after repeated washings . I was also shown gory images of a CD where allegedly the army was pouring phosphorus over dead bodies of militants, so that they melt . I obviously could not use it in my report .
I could feel that things were simmering to a break point there . At that time when I was told that this is just the beginning and that things will get worse in the coming days . I thought that this was just a remark made out of frustration . But now , I realize , it wasnt . As I discovered that Pakistan had witnessed a huge jump in militant violence after 10th of July, 2007 and that reached its most dreadful turn with the assassination of Benazir Bhutto . And as we know it did not end there . We still report on fears that the Taliban might take over Islamabad someday , rightly or wrongly so . We still analyse on what would happen if the Al Qaeda starts controlling Pakistans nuclear arsenal . The fear projected as real , has gained momentum after what happened in LAAL MASJID .

I came out of the mosque and to be sure I stuffed the tape in my socks , just in case the ISI guys were waiting for us outside . Before leaving Pakistan , I spoke to representatives from Benazir's PPP and Nawaz Shareifs PML ( N) and both believed that LAAL MASJID could have been resolved, but President Musharraf closed all avenues leading to a dialogue with the extremists holed up in the LAAL MASJID . LAAL MASJID is indeed a red chapter in the history of Pakistan's modern History and we explored this story with the limited resources at our disposal , knowing the perils involved and also paying a price by being blacklisted in Pakistan , hopefully not forever .

I returned to India and got a call by the Pakistani high commission after the show was telecast. Rest is history, since not only me but anyone from the TV Today network who went to a get a Pakistani visa was given a sermon on why Mr Sharma should not have entered LAAL MASJID and endanger his life .