Vice President Hamid Ansari has pushed for a parliamentary oversight committee to monitor the activities of the intelligence agencies, something which previous Canary Trap posts have strongly advocated for.

While delivering the late R N Kao memorial lecture on January 19, Vice President Ansari highlighted the case of “faulty intelligence” on weapons of mass destruction before the Iraqi invasion in 2003 and asked “How shall a democracy insure its secret intelligence apparatus becomes neither a vehicle for conspiracy nor a suppressor of the traditional liberties of democratic self-government?”

The findings of the internal inquiry of RAW into the Rabinder Singh episode will never be known even to the Indian Parliament or a parliamentary committee. How then can we be sure of their effectiveness in gathering information and protecting the country.

The Home Minister has to ensure that an oversight mechanism be created to ensure that such vital issues (Rabinder Singh episode) affecting national security are not swept under the carpet and appropriate lessons are drawn from it.

By far the most important aspect of illegal economy in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in valley which has received minimum attention, is the introduction of fake Indian currency. During last decade the role of fake currency in impacting the socio-economic scene in Kashmir Valley is more than anything else.

Injection of fake currency seems to have crossed the boundaries of clandestine operations. It is becoming the part of socio-economic culture.

The hawala transactions reveal not only the modus operandi of money transactions but also the elaborate network of over ground workers who are part of a elaborate subversive establishment.

This establishment is gradually transforming Kashmir valley into a den of illegal economy causing irreparable damage to the social set up.