Review By Harsimran Kaur

Rating: 4/5

The Bollywood movie “Ek Tha Tiger” ushered a palatable and a sing-song love story between a R.A.W and I.S.I officer. They broke all barriers and tonsured the follicle of prejudices and Inhibition to grow their own perception of belonging to each other. But, the reality is a silent reminder of the prevalent incessant dystopia of who is the sharpest tool in the box.

Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark, known for their investigative hard-chasers, sharpen their instinctive proclivities for yet another dive in the sea. The tranquillity of the folds of waves presents the vitality of the spy cadres and their pre-emptive discretions to oppose the antithetical, but deep down prevails a sea bed of incendiary political issues, a perpetual need to eavesdrop agendas for their applaudable global presence, fighting smoke and shadows within their own territory, and if given an opportunity to invasively ramshackle the abilities and motives of the enemy.

The 9/11 attack validated the virulent deed of terrorism and its capability of sowing pejorative seeds of destruction. After the horrendous annihilation, the I.S.I was under radar, and imperceptibly fell off the trust and bonhomie with the U.S. The world eventually saw terrorist as a pachyderm, leaving no stone unturned to infiltrate their pugnacious and incongruous judgements through invidious explosions, arbitrary resolutions causing turbulence in Kashmir and to topple any dictator forbidding the tenants of Islam.

 I.S.I went on to be a reluctant aid to the U.S. on the war of terror. With misbegotten policies of giving refuge to terrorist organizations intolerantly refuted by the U.S, led the Pakistan military and I.S.I to give in to their blandishments and also ensure that R.A.W does not take advantage of their ignominious situation. The C.I.A too felt the need to impugn the revelations by the I.S.I and R.A.W and use it to its own advantage.

All this is assiduously researched and put in a plausible elocution of words by the authors. The book addresses the Daniel Pearl conspiracy, the implacable Pulwana attack and the savage 26/11 Mumbai sabotage opening a putrid can of worms implicating the pawns in the chess of terror strikes,being the harbinger of hatred and revenge and masterminding the acts of decimation. The book extensively talks about the foxes in the hole like Kulbhushan Jadhav and Rabinder Singh—an eye opener to how spy agencies operate not missing a strand of hair.

TAKE AWAY

The book is sure to inspire controversial polemics. Nothing has resolved. Today, again we see the uprising of terror—as it is being made to believe—with the emergence of Taliban on the incarnadined tarmac of Afghanistan. We may witness bouts of inconceivable terror attacks with Pakistan collaborating with Taliban to unleash abysmal propagandas. The pattern needs to change with the I.S.I taking a resolve not to harbour terror mafia on their soil and the R.A W positioning itself as a vigilant hawk and adopt a hard-fitting rebuttal to the thorns of terrorism.

Unbelievable read and true to life!!