Editorial Board Contents - Bureau of Police Research and ...

My Experience of lifeand work in lBShri O.N. ShrivastavaI believe that a lot in life is about being at theright place, at the right time — and that to me,is Destiny. It is difficult to say at this point oftime as to when I got on to the road, which,notwithstanding its total absence of sign posts,its ups and downs, twists and turns, its episodesof sunshine and defeating darkness, ended upin the Raj Bhavan. Of two facts, however, I amcertain; both interlinked, which have made thedifference. The first one was in Oct 1962, whenalready in Bhind for over two and a half years,I was offered a ‘choice’ and I decided to takethe road least frequented to the North-East. Andthe second; a corollary to the first one, was tocome on deputation to the Intelligence Bureau, adeputation from which I never returned.It was during my deputation to Nagaland that Icame across eminent Intelligence Officers likeMr Atma Jayram, Mr. R. D. Pande and Mr. R. P.Joshi and got an opportunity to see them workfrom very close quarters. It always amazed meto visit SIB offices in Kohima or Shillong, whereeven as late as 9.30 in the night, their typewritersand their wireless sets would be relentlessly atwork. As luck would have it, Mr Jayram visitedNagaland around the time my deputation of fiveyears to Nagaland was coming to an end. Hewas accompanied by Shri R. D. Pande. This visitprovided me a rare opportunity of interactingwith Mr. Jayram, and also gave Mr. Jayram anopportunity of evaluating my work in Nagaland.He obviously would have been impressed,for when he was leaving the Police Mess inChumukedima (Nagaland), he called me asideand asked me if I would like to join the IntelligenceBureau. I left the choice to him and to Mr. Pande,telling both of them that “Yes, provided theyfound me to be right material for induction intothe lB and provided they succeeded in makingIGP, MP agree to a third stint of deputation forme.” I had earlier done two stints in Nagaland,a total of eight years. Having received no firmindication from either of them and havingfinished my deputation in Nagaland, I returned toMadhya Pradesh. A year went by, when one finemorning I received a call from Mr. Pande tellingme that having finished the 'cooling off’ period ofone year in the State, the Government of MadhyaPradesh had agreed for my deputation to lB, andthat I should keep myself in readiness for movingto Delhi at short notice.I joined the Intelligence Bureau in 1974 andwas posted as Assistant Director dealing withthe North-East as a subject. I had worked inNagaland and Mizoram and had developeddependable contacts during my stints there. In1975, Intelligence Bureau received informationthat Laldenga (President, Mizo National Front),who was then living under ISI’s care in Karachi,was fed up with the Governments of China, USAand Pakistan, for their unwillingness to intervenephysically against India on behalf of the Mizos.According to him, these Governments wereonly interested in causing pinpricks, which werehardly of any help. The sufferings of his peopledue to Army/Police operations in Mizoram werealso causing him concern. He was, therefore,willing to negotiate peace with the Governmentof India. Smt. Indira Gandhi too supportedpeace talks with Mr. Laldenga, but for that, Mr.Laldenga, along with his five family membersand five other senior MNF officials, was requiredto be smuggled out of Pakistan — into India —considered to be an impossible task, since theentire group was living under ISI’s arrangements.Smt. Indira Gandhi’s scepticism about the successof the mission notwithstanding, she did not holdback her approval. The then Home Minister MrNarsimha Rao too nurtured serious doubts aboutthe success of this mission. But he too was goodenough to extend his good wishes to the project-68The Indian Police Journal, October - December, 2012, Special Issue