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He even suggested separate pay scales for theIB, promising every help. Unfortunately mostof his promises could not be fulfilled, since helost power soon after. Thanks to the PM, thelB’s resources soon improved radically and theorganisation itself became an efficient and eliteone. During Shri M.K. Narayanan's, term, thelB’s stock soared to dizzy heights.In 1987, I had assumed the charge of JD atHeadquarters. Twenty years after my Ladakhposting, the border fever persisting, I volunteeredto go to Shillong in 1989. JD, Shillong had thecharter of looking after the seven sisters (at thattime Sikkim was not included) and the longborder with Burma, Bangladesh and Tibet. With alarge territory which involved hours of travellingby chopper, there never was a dull moment. TheMizo insurgency had died down but Nagaland,Tripura and Manipur were in ferment.In 1990, the Ulfa movement peaked and asexpected all hell broke loose in Assam. In the wakeof a break down of the law and order machinery,President’s Rule was imposed. ‘OperationBajrang’ by the Army was carried out and thoughthe Ulfa movements were restricted, it was onlyafter the next Operation Rhino that near normalcywas restored. But throughout 1990, one lived inthe shadow of unprecedented violence. Murders,kidnapping, etc. were resorted to in front of thePolice Stations. The lB was at the top of Ulfa’s hitlist and travelling became a big problem. Two ofour junior officers were also kidnapped and onlyone of them could be saved.After I left Shillong and returned to Delhi in1991, the Army requested for my servicesduring 'Operation Rhino’, and once again I hadto return to Guwahati for a short while. Thereason was that I had good relations with theArmy and during ‘Operation Bajrang’, I hadeven persuaded lB Headquarters to supplementthe Corps Intelligence operations with somebadly needed funds. In those hard days, onenever thought of separate organisations, but lenta helping hand towards achieving a commoncause. The two years spent in the North East werehectic and rewarding. One traversed the far flungidyllic spots all along the borders, studying thevast panorama of India with its vastly differentgeography and ethnicity.In 1990, Shri M.K. Narayanan was transferred asChairman JIC and Shri Joshi took over as DIB.The next year, however, Shri Narayanan returnedas DIB and continued till his retirement. Buthis stewardship of the IB continued for severalyears even after his retirement. As advisor to thePM and later as National Security Advisor, ShriNarayanan maintained close links with the lB.The lB will always remain beholden to him forhis guidance.Part of the charm in having been in the lB is thevaried kind of jobs one got to learn. On return fromShillong, I was allotted the counter intelligenceportfolio. Catching spies was a very rewardingwork and perhaps there was nothing as satisfyingas seeing your target finally being nabbed, aftera testing time. In this, you had to pit your brainsagainst some of the very clever and experiencedintelligence officers in various Embassies, whowere using vastly superior gadgets. Very often,the good work of the counter intelligencedepartments could not be publicized due todiplomatic niceties and protocol. However, whenIndian agents were involved, the press alwaysgot a chance to mention it. This is one aspectof lB work, where the credit always is given tothe local Police. Some years later, as AdditionalDirector (Operations), we had several successesagainst Pak terrorist modules, who were nabbedby the Delhi Police at our instance. Though thelB’s contribution is always recognized by theGovernment and a few knowledgeable circles,the credit is always given to the local Police.This is part of the lB work profile and nobodygrudges it. As head of the CI unit, we had somememorable successes, particularly against somediplomats of Western countries in Delhi, whohad targeted the lB.I recall an interesting incident about the activitiesof an extremist organisation. In May 1992, theMinistry of Defence, which was expecting aconsignment of missiles and other militaryhardware from Russia, informed the lB thatalong with the defence cargo, a consignmentof 20,000 AK-47 rifles and 30 million roundsof ammunition, which was never indented forby MoD, was arriving at the port of Cochin.The consignment had been fully paid for and$4 million had been transferred through someSwiss banks and manifested as defence cargo forthe Ministry of Defence. Since the whole thingThe Indian Police Journal, October - December, 2012, Special Issue 107