Promotion of an IPS makes 7 senior officers of India’s external intelligence agency unhappy

SEVEN senior officials of India’s external intelligence agency RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) have gone on mass protest leave after IPS officer Avdesh Mathur was promoted as a special secretary, according to a report in an Indian television channel. The officials, all from Research and Analysis Service (RAS), were said to be unhappy after an IPS officer, considered to be an outsider, was promoted, indicating tensions between RAS and IPS officers in India’s crucial intelligence agency. All these RAS officials holding the rank of an additional secretary, were upset as Mr Mathur would now be their senior. The cabinet secretariat had already swung into action and tried to address the matter, according to the TV news item. In fact, the workload of India’s external intelligence agency RAW has increased during the last few weeks thanks to reports of Chinese incursions in the Ladakh area of Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan’s firing in the border and Maoists’ spreading of anti-India message in Nepal.