New Delhi: A major breach of security has taken place in the vital Northern Command’s headquarters at Udhampur with a spy stealing a substantial amount of information from the military database.
"That a lieutenant general rank officer is investigating the case indicates the extent and significance of the information stolen,” a source told ETV Bharat on condition of anonymity.
The mole, in this case, is a soldier from an infantry battalion based out of Punjab and was recruited by the Pakistani intelligence agency Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) some time ago.
Now under arrest, the mole is believed to have transferred documents in a pen-drive before handing it over to his Pakistan-based handlers.
While the information is understood to have been stolen from the Udhampur base, the mole was based in Nagrota in Jammu which is the headquarters of the 16 Corps which is largely responsible for all military operations south of the Pirpanjal in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
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Udhampur is the nerve centre of all military planning in the northern front and is now engaged in operations on both the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan and the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.
Another source however doubted the extent of information loss. "Information is strictly guarded nowadays, the more sensitive the branch or department, the more the secrecy guidelines. Moreover, everything is handled on a 'need to know' basis. So it is questionable if anybody says a jawan stole vital and sensitive documents," said the second source.
On being contacted, the Indian army confirmed that a security breach has indeed taken place. "Not much information or database is believed to have been stolen although investigations are on," a source said.
The development has come at a time when India and Pakistan director generals of military operations (DGMOs) in a bid to prevent further confrontation had on Thursday inked a ceasefire agreement.
