Ravindra Kaushik, born on 11th April, 1952, was an Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) agent from Rajasthan who was recruited by India’s intelligence agency, RAW, and he spied for India from 1973 until the year 1983 before he was captured by Pakistan’s intelligence agency. His father was an Indian Air Force officer.
Ravindra Kaushik’s is known as one of India’s greatest spies, India’s bravest undercover agent. After receiving two years of special, intense training, Kaushik went undercover in Pakistan & joined the Pakistan army with the false identity Nabi Ahmed Shakir.
Kaushik was also well-versed in the Punjabi language, and Punjabi was widely spoken in both India and Pakistan, so it was an advantage for him too.
There, he built a new life; nobody could ever know that his activities were very precise and careful, so nobody dared to doubt him. Kaushik eventually became a major in Pakistan; while staying there, he gathered crucial and sensitive information for India. Be it about troop movements or Pakistan’s nuclear programme. For a very long time, almost ten years, he secretly passed important military information to India while living undercover. During this time, he also married a Pakistani woman named Amanat and had a child, who never knew his real identity.
Kaushik also met Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who gave him the title “Black Tiger”. Before joining, at the beginning, his life was different. Kaushik learned local dialects, then while studying, he took part in theatre and performed very well there also. In 1973, Kaushik performed a solo act as an Indian soldier, and for his outstanding performance, the RAW immediately decided to train him. He was ready for secret missions in Delhi, and he proved that. During that training period, he learned about Islam, Urdu, and Pakistani social norms. He had to study Pakistan’s geography and culture very well before entering the new chapter of his life. He went to Pakistan, and from then on, for the world, he was not an Indian citizen anymore.
In 1975, he entered Pakistan, studied at Karachi University, earned a law degree and then finally joined the Pakistan army and achieved his target of Major rank. Kaushik saved the lives of almost 20,000 Indians.
Well, in 1983, RAW again sent a junior spy(Inayat Masih) to meet Ravindra Kaushik, but unfortunately Inayat was caught as soon as he entered by the ISI. Under torture, Inayat exposed all details to the ISI about Kaushik and Kaushik was arrested, two years of torture in interrogation centre in Sialkot, and Kaushik spent another 16 years in Pakistani jail. And in 1985, the Pakistani military court sentenced him to death, but the punishment was later converted to life imprisonment. Kaushik died in 2001 from tuberculosis and heart disease. He was buried behind the jail.
India never publicly acknowledged him, maybe because of the fear of blame or guilt. Kaushik spent 16 years in Pakistani jails, contracted tuberculosis, and died in 2001, never returning home. He served India and sacrificed his life and his family.
Recognition or praise after death is symbolic; honestly, it does not truly matter, because for the person who is not alive now, lost his life very badly, does not know what the world has gifted him, after death, who needs a gift or a prize! What will he do with it! Ravindra Kaushik did not even think that he had to lose his life in Pakistan and could not even meet his family or come back to his own country ever! For his family, the praise would matter more if it was given when he was alive. Ravindra Kaushik died in another country, Pakistan, and could not return to his motherland and his family ever; nothing can heal this pain, nothing can change it! India’s “Black Tiger” was lost because of a betrayer; for the betrayer, the safety of the citizens does not matter! Maybe he thought that if he was tortured, the other person should also face this.
Maybe Kaushik could have been saved, or maybe Inayat could have tried to use his mind and brain before exposing Kaushik’s identity to the ISI, or maybe he needed some more training. It all happened because of the low-level operative Inayat Masih. He should have thought if he is actually ready or not to enter Pakistan, perhaps he was wrongly selected as a RAW spy, or he was excited to go without preparation, if he faced any kind of pressure, he could have inform to his country first, but he did not even try that, without using common sense and morals, he chose the path whose bad consequences India had to face long term. One brave person built something with years of perseverance and consistency, years of sacrifice; another, with his “fear”, destroyed everything.
While in jail in Pakistan, Kaushik somehow managed to secretly send letters to his family who were living in India; his letters revealed his poor health and the torture he was facing. In one of the letters, he wrote:
“क्या भारत जैसे बड़े देश के लिए कुर्बानी देने वालों को यहीं मिलता है?" (Is this what the people who sacrifice their lives for big countries like India get in return?)
Later, according to Kaushik’s family, the Indian government had refused to recognise him and unfortunately made no effort to rescue him. Kaushik’s family also claimed that the plot of the film Ek Tha Tiger, which was released in 2012, was based on the life of Ravindra Kaushik, and they asked for credit in the movie titles for Kaushik. However, director Kabir Khan denied their claim.
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