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Gogoi trained in Pakistan, MHA should probe: Assam CM; MP slams allegations
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma accused Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi of being a national threat with links to Pakistan, urging a probe into his activities.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday alleged that Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi, who is also an MP from the state, was trained by Pakistani authorities during his visit to the neighbouring country in 2013 prior to him becoming a Lok Sabha member a year later.
Accusing both Gogoi and his British wife Elizabeth Colburn Gogoi, who used to be employed by a climate action group in Pakistan and later shifted to India, of being “national threats” having some “deeper connections” with the neighbouring country, Sarma urged the union ministry of home affairs (MHA) to conduct an appropriate probe.
The disclosure comes a year after the CM alleged about Gogoi’s and his wife’s Pakistan links, six months after the Special Investigative Team (SIT) formed to probe the case delivered its report and weeks ahead of the next assembly polls in the state expected to be held in March-April.
Addressing a press conference in Guwahati, Sarma said that its a sad day for Assamese society and the state as the name of an elected MP from Assam has been linked with Pakistan, but said that it was his duty as the CM to reveal this in front of the nation.
He said that his interest in the matter started after a photo of Gogoi taking few youths for an event to the Pakistan embassy in New Delhi in 2015 started circulating in social media last year.
“Preliminary probe revealed that Gogoi’s wife was posted in Pakistan between March 2011 and March 2012 and was closely associated with a person named Ali Tauqueer Sheikh, who is the CEO of a think-tank and climate action group called Lead Pakistan,” said Sarma.
Lead Pakistan is the Pakistan wing of Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), a group which is funded by Netherlands and Canada and works with people affected by climate change in countries falling in Global South. The group has an Indian wing called Lead Pakistan. Sheikh is the Asia Director of CDKN.
Sarma said that Sheikh used that platform to raise anti-India comments and issue concerning both countries including the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, which dealt with water-sharing between the two nations and was suspended by New Delhi last year.
“Sheikh also used to post those anti-India comments on his social media handles. But when Assam Police started probing his links to the Gogois, Sheikh deleted those posts,” said Sarma.
The CM said that Elizabeth was first employed with Lead Pakistan in the neighbouring country and later shifted to India where she joined Lead India, but her salary and other benefits continued to come from Lead Pakistan.
“Her appointment letter showed that her work would be managed and directed by Lead Pakistan and CDKN’s Asia Director Sheikh. This is a unique work agreement, which we found during investigation, and shows that she was a shadow employee of Lead Pakistan despite being attached to Lead India,” Sarma said.
He alleged that during her stay in India, Elizabeth used to interact with civil society, policy makers etc and sent “confidential matters” including an Intelligence Bureau (IB) to Pakistan. Her report sent to Lead Pakistan mentioned that the organisation needs to bypass central government and work with sub-national agencies.
The CM stated that during her posting with Lead India, Elizabeth travelled to Islamabad six times and three times after she left that post and joined another organisation in Delhi. Prior to that, during her stint in Lead Pakistan, she visited India three times.
“She didn’t fly from India to Pakistan, but entered the neighbouring country through the land border in Attari. When we contacted the Lead India executive director Bhavna Luthra, she told that she (Luthra) was unaware of the reasons why Elizabeth took those trips to Pakistan,” said Sarma.
Sarma said that Gaurav Gogoi went to Pakistan in December 2013 for a period of 10 days through the Attari border. At that time he was not an MP and was staying at the residence of his father Tarun Gogoi, who was then the chief minister of Assam.
“He was not an MP then. His visa was issued by Pakistan embassy in New Delhi and was valid only for Lahore. But when he reached Pakistan, his visa status was surprisingly changed there by the interior ministry of Pakistan and he was allowed to travel to Karachi and Islamabad as well,” he said.
Sarma also stated that Gogoi claimed in Assamese media that he (Gogoi) visited Pakistan in 2013 as his wife was employed there. But it was revealed that Gogoi’s wife was already posted with Lead India at that time.
“We had asked Elizabeth during investigation to reveal whom Gogoi had met during his stay in Pakistan, but she refused to disclose. We suspect that he must have been placed under some kind of training there,” said Sarma.
Gogoi became a Lok Sabha MP in 2014 and CM Sarma alleged that during his first stint in Parliament he asked several sensitive questions in the House related to military preparedness, nuclear installations, uranium reserves etc.
“And incidentally, he took the youths to Pakistan embassy in New Delhi after his visit to the neighbouring country. Why would an Indian MP take youths to the Pakistan embassy?,” questioned Sarma.
The CM also said that Gogoi’s two children, a boy and a girl, don’t hold Indian passports and are British citizens like their mother. He disclosed that though the son had Indian citizenship after birth, it was surrendered by Gogoi in May 2022, following which his citizenship changed to British.
“Considering these revelations found during the SIT probe by Assam Police, the Assam cabinet decided on Saturday to request the MHA to probe these links of Gogoi and his wife. The ball in now in Gogoi’s court and he has to explain his visit and what he did in Pakistan during the 10 days there,” said Sarma.
He added that though Gogoi’s wife was questioned by the SIT and she cooperated on most points, the MP himself was not interrogated and it should be done by the MHA.
He added that though the SIT report was available in September 10 last year, the details were not made public due to mass grief across Assam due to the sudden death of cultural icon Zubeen Garg in Singapore on September 19.
GOGOI’S REACTION
“I pity the journalists from Delhi and Assam who had to suffer the most flop press conference of the century. This was worse than a C grade cinema. Most mindless and bogus points offered by the so called political shrewd Chief Minister,” Gaurav Gogoi posted in X in response to the CM’s allegations.
“This super flop is in contrast to our Xomoy Parivartan Yatra (March for Changing Times) which has been a hit in uncovering the 12,000 bighas of land occupied by the Chief Minister and his family members,” he added.
