New Delhi, June 01, 2005 (TOI)

New Delhi is investigating claims that an army officer had sold India’s war plan to Pakistan in 1965 for Rs 20,000, allowing Islamabad to exploit chinks in the Indian Army’s defences.

The disclosure was made by Gohar Ayub Khan, the son of former Pakistani president Ayub Khan in an interview published in Pakistan on Monday. The disclosures, Gohar said, would be a “bombshell” for the Indian Army.

Maj Gen A B Sayyad, the Indian Army’s main spokesman, told IANS: “We are checking the veracity of Gohar’s statement and when we do find something we will share it with the press just as he has done with reporters in Pakistan.”

The brigadier who sold the war plan in 1965, according to Gohar, needed the money for his wife who wanted to buy equipment for her hobby of canning fruits and vegetables.

Gohar said the brigadier was still alive and had retired after serving in a top position in the Indian Army. He said his memoirs, to be published by the year-end, would provide hints about the brigadier’s identity.

Defence minister Pranab Mukherjee too said Tuesday the defence establishment was looking into the matter.

“I am afraid it is difficult to believe that an Indian brigadier would divulge military secrets for money,” Mukherjee said after dedicating INS Kadamba, the navy’s new base at Karwar in Karnataka.

“The incident took place 35 to 40 years ago. We don’t even know whether the brigadier is alive or dead. The way the news item has come up will require detailed analysis. Not to speak of a brigadier, nobody will have the detailed implementation plan,” Mukherjee said.

For starters, the Indian Army has recalled the list of brigadiers who commanded military formations or were part of the strike corps in 1965, especially those posted in Jammu and Kashmir.

Following this, the army will try to ascertain if any of the brigadiers, if alive, had access to information as described by Gohar.

“The brigadier must be in his late 70s or early 80s. But we seriously doubt it (Gohar’s disclosure),” said a colonel.

Gohar said Ayub Khan was preparing the Pakistan Army to fight a war with India to “liberate” Kashmir and for this, he followed a long-term policy and deputed his intelligence network in New Delhi to get India’s “war plan”.

Privately, senior generals in Army Headquarters here believe this Gohar’s disclosure could be a “publicity stunt” to drum up interest in his memoirs.

“It is almost inconceivable that a brigadier alone had complete knowledge of the detailed secret plan of the Indian Army to attack Pakistan in 1965,” said a general.

According to Gohar, Pakistani agents in New Delhi allegedly exploited the weakness of the brigadier’s wife to compromise her husband. Gohar said he met the brigadier in London in 1967.