In what is a clear case of compromise of national security, a top secret communication relating to operational plans and forward deployment along the Indo-China border has gone missing.
The letter was dispatched by the Tezpur-headquartered IV Corps of the Army in January 2011 to the headquarter of 21 Mountain Division at Rangia, detailing the operational plan, deployment measures and other crucial information relating to the sensitive China border.
The letter also contained specific details of the exercises and exigencies to be prepared, types and number of equipment to be deployed and the roles and responsibilities of officials of the 21 Division to support the IV Corps with a view to counter any Chinese threat along the border.
The 21 Mountain Division was then headed by NS Ghei, who has subsequently been elevated as Commander of X Corps. The letter went missing within a week of its receipt by the 21 Mountain Division and the incident was brought to the notice of higher formations of the Army, but a formal court of enquiry is yet to be ordered.
The entire matter was hushed up and the letter is still untraceable, top Intelligence sources said.
In the absence of a court of enquiry, neither has responsibility been fixed on the officials responsible for the leakage of the sensitive communication nor has the resultant damage to national security been ascertained. The issue, flagged by Intelligence agencies, raises serious concerns over the failure in checking the leakage of such a sensitive communication and instituting a court of enquiry against the erring officials. Intelligence officers privy to the details said it is necessary to ascertain if the letter was leaked to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, that in turn passed it on to the Chinese Intelligence agencies, or the vital communication slipped into Chinese hands directly.
An enquiry could have helped establish the penetration of both Pakistani and Chinese secret agencies in the Army formations under Eastern Command. Also, timely intervention by changing the deployment pattern could have contained the damage caused due to the leak of the sensitive letter.
The Intelligence agencies have also raised concerns over the manner in which such a vital communication from a Corps to Divisional headquarter was leaked and how the entire matter remains under wraps.