Raja Faisal |
When the Cold War between communism and capitalism was at its peak in Central Europe, the term of Sexpionage was introduced in the world of secret services. Bonn, the then capital of West Germany was considered as the Sexpionage capital for intelligence agencies of both sides. Young and the most handsome intelligence officers, both female and male, were recruited for the task that went through intensive training.
The training included learning about the psychology of the opposite gender, playing with emotions, how to dress smart, maintaining body and most importantly to develop a coverup imaginary character. For western Germany, it was relatively easy to bribe and blackmail the East German communists as they were not well paid. But for well paid and lonely West Germans, Sexpionage was the best resolve.
As Bonn was full of government offices and diplomatic missions, every political development at the time had to pass through it. Secretaries of President, ministers, armed officers and important diplomats of the western powers were the top targets for the honey traps of the intelligent and shrewd love hawks. As the NATO shaped itself at the time, Gabrielle Klein and Margret Herkle were the prime targets of East Germany.
Facing extreme psychological pressure, Chairman entrusted the close associates within NAB and took their opinion regarding the matter. He was told to entrust the family on it and let the matter move on.
Gabrielle was Secretary to the US ambassador to West Germany whereas Margret was Secretary to the President. East Germans sent in two of their best hawks in accordance with the presumed needs of the “lonely birds”. The hawks successfully preyed upon their birds and for more than a decade transferred the exclusive documents as well as verbal information to their mother nests.
On their capture, both the important secretaries maintained that they believed their men and they were in relationships. They never realized the fact that their emotions were being played with for a cause rather than a display of true intimate feelings.
There are several examples of highly important people getting honey trapped by the individuals equipped with a killer combination of beauty & brain. The cases of Former US President Bill Clinton and Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi were the most famous in the recent past.
Read more: Chairman NAB’s leaked video: Govt. opposition & media missing the point?
It’s an age of social media in which any content can easily get viral instantly. Technology has made it easier and precise for the hawks to prey upon their birds. Micro cams can easily be installed within one’s dress or jewelry to create evidence. Moreover, that gathered conversations and actions can easily be edited in accordance with the needs.
‘To err is human’ as the saying goes. It is highly natural for anyone to get attracted towards another human of the desired gender. Important is to avoid the err either by staying cautious enough from that another human or by staying distanced from the err. In modern times, Sexpionage involves the technology to gather evidence in the shape of audio or video recordings to either influence them to get favors or to use them against the victims.
Pakistan’s Recent Case
The latest high profile honey-trap victim in Pakistan is Justice (rtrd) Javed Iqbal, who is currently serving as Chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB). A tall and good looking woman in her mid-30s, Tayyeba Farook successfully honey-trapped the Accountability Watchdog Chief. She purposefully released a series of expertly crafted and edited questionable audio and video clips.
The fiasco reached to its end when a series of videos and an audio clip got shared by anti-NAB social media wings of concerned political parties.
Importantly, the content she has carefully produced is indeed to the point and enough to put question-marks on the credibility of the NAB chairman. But, often reality in such cases is entirely different. The chain of events in recent past speaks louder that the said chairman was expertly framed for a purpose yet unknown.
I met with a high profile source within NAB who knew about the events before the episode got on-air on the social media. He said that there would be a series of video and audio clips getting shared in coming days as the discussed material consists upon more than thirty short clips. Importantly, He was not the only one who knew about it, he believes. The said honey-trapper has been trying to meet with the chairman since September of last year. She successfully met with him first time in the office six months ago that led to regular meetings.
Furthermore, the source said that the chairman started facing blackmailing from the said woman since March. She wanted the chairman to influence the certain high profile cases but he did not do it. Facing extreme psychological pressure, Chairman entrusted the close associates within NAB and took their opinion regarding the matter. He was told to entrust the family on it and let the matter move on. Meanwhile, Tayyeba was in the safe refuge provided by a powerful property tycoon at an unknown location within the capital, the source said.
Read more: Removal of Chairman NAB?
Interestingly, the chain of events in May was enough to suggest what in actual was going to happen. Source added into already reported news about the hearing of former President Asif Ali Zardari on 16th May. He said that when DG NAB Irfan Mangi, after the question-answer session told Mr. Zardari about the next hearing, he replied in a suspicious manner to the officer. Mr. Zardari tapped the table twice and said: “let’s see when next time I come to this office, whether you and your chairman are still holding the office or not”.
Next was the controversial article of Javed Choudry that followed a further confusing presser by the chairman NAB to negate the fact that he even got interviewed by the said prominent journalist.
Chairman NAB’s Moral Murder
The fiasco reached to its end when a series of videos and an audio clip got shared by anti-NAB social media wings of concerned political parties. It went viral and at once Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif started demanding the resignation of the Chairman NAB.
It would have indeed been important for Justice (rtrd) Javed Iqbal to realize that he was empowered for his capabilities but he was supposed to use his powers with responsibility.
As Pablo Escobar – famous Columbian Drug Lord – once said, “everyone has a price, important thing is to find out what it is”, indeed it is important to find out why the price was Sexpionage in this case as it happens to be the last resolve to lure, bribe or blackmail an individual with authority. One thing is for sure that Accountability watchdog chief must have been tried through every possible method that neutralizes him as the honey-trap is always considered as the last resolve.
This successful trap is an evidence that Chairman NAB could be perceived as morally corrupt to some extent but indeed he is not financially corrupt. His recent actions could be considered as his personal misconduct but not as his professional misconduct. Had he accepted the demands of his blackmailers, the videos and audio would never have surfaced at all. This is enough to declare the Chairman NAB as a fearless head of all important organization.
Moreover, the honey-trapper cunningly tried to establish the office location of the chairman along with the stairs of the office in her videos. In another video, she successfully established the malpractices of the watchdog during the investigation of one of the witness in the case against her. The witness was being tortured in front of her while he was apologizing her.
Read more: After no-show in Parliamentary meeting, NAB Chairman asked to appear on…
Importantly, it is enough to understand that the videos were being created to demand not only the resignation of the Chairman NAB but to raise questions against the credibility of the said bureau. Sooner or later, the concerned corners of Pakistan’s political arena would constantly be using the anti-NAB narrative that revolves around this odious episode.
Here, important is the fact that existing NAB has brilliant youthful officers who have relentlessly worked in recent past. Investigation Officers (IOs) in their late 20s and early 30s have ambitiously worked for the country. Few of the officers that are working on high profile cases are known for working throughout the day and night especially while they were tracing down the missing links to the cases. Majority of the missing links in the money trails were caused by hoax fires in the government buildings during the previous government. Ironically enough, in all the hoax fires, only the documents needed for the NAB cases went missing.
Read more: PML-N distances itself from earlier demand of NAB chairman’s resignation
Spider-Man rightly dialogues that “with great power comes greater responsibility”. It would have indeed been important for Justice (rtrd) Javed Iqbal to realize that he was empowered for his capabilities but he was supposed to use his powers with responsibility. Though he has not negotiated any of the high profile cases he certainly has failed to exhibit responsible attitude towards his office.
The author is an Islamabad based journalist, analyst, and producer currently working for Indus News. He tweets @RajaFaisal01 (twitter.com/RajaFaisal01). The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Global Village Space’s editorial policy.