By IANS
New Delhi : A former Indian Army chief was a Pakistani spy in the 1950s, a Pakistani politician known for shooting off his mouth has implied – without substantiating the claim.
Former Pakistani minister Gohar Ayub Khan made the allegation during an interview to Karan Thapar on CNBC-TV18 but refused to categorically state whether he was referring to Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, known as the architect of the Indian Army operations that led to the break up of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh in December 1971.
"I can tell you that he was from the first IMA (Indian Military Academy) batch, that he served in the Frontier Force (regiment), that he won a Military Cross in Burma (during World War II) and that he rose to the top of the Indian Army," Gohar contended.
Asked by Thapar whether he was referring to Manekshaw, one of India's most applauded military officers, Gohar refused to clarify.
"I can't name him. You can put the hat on anyone you think so," he stated.
Manekshaw, 95, is recuperating in a military hospital in south India from age-related complications and was not reachable for comment.
Gohar is the son of former Pakistani military dictator Field Marshal Ayub Khan, whose diaries relating to the period 1966-72 were published May 4.
Significantly, the Indian Army had made considerable advances into Pakistan during the 1971 war and captured a substantial area of territory. This area was returned after the 1972 Simla Agreement inked by the then Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi and her Pakistani counterpart Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Gohar's claims to Thapar were immediately trashed.
"Rubbish," declared Lt. Gen. (retd) J.F.R. Jacob, who was the second senior-most officer of the Indian Army's eastern command that conducted the Bangladesh operation.
"This is not a revelation but an allegation and that too a baseless one. Unless this is proved, it should be dismissed with contempt," maintained former Indian Army chief Gen. Shankar Roy Choudhary.
Gohar first made the claim two years ago, saying his father had given him the name of an Indian Army director of military operations of the 1950s who had sold the country's war plans to Pakistan for Rs.20,000.
Gohar had failed to substantiate the claim.