‘Black Tiger’

Legend remains victorious in spite of history.  

Ravindra Kaushik (Nabi Ahmed Shakir; 11 April 1952 – November 2001) was an alleged Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) agent who lived undercover in Pakistan before he was jailed and died.

Early life

Ravindra Kaushik was born in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan on April 11, 1952. He also did his graduation from there.
Kaushik displayed his talent at the national level dramatic meet in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, which was witnessed by officials from the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s external intelligence agency. He was contacted and offered a job of being an undercover Indian agent in Pakistan. Kaushik was given extensive training in Delhi for two years. He underwent circumcision so he could pass as a Muslim. He was taught Urdu, given Islamic religious education and acquainted with the topography and other details about Pakistan. Being from Sri Ganganagar, a city near Rajasthan’s border with Punjab, he was well versed in Punjabi, which is widely understood in Punjab,Pakistan. In 1975, at the age of 23, Kaushik was sent to Pakistan on a special mission.

Activities in Pakistan

Kaushik was given the name “Nabi Ahmed Shakir” and entered Pakistan in 1975. He was successful in getting admission in Karachi University and completed his LLB. He joined Pakistan Army as a commissioned officer and eventually promoted to the rank of a major. He soon married a local girl named Amanat, the daughter of a tailor in one of the army units, and fathered a boy who died in 2012–2013.

From 1979 to 1983, while working as an officer, he passed on valuable information to RAW which was of great help to the Indian defence forces. He was given the title of ‘Black Tiger’ by India’s then home minister S. B. Chavan.

Death and aftermath

In September 1983, Indian intelligence agencies sent a low-level operative, Inyat Masih, to get in touch with Kaushik. However, Masih was caught by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies and revealed Kaushik’s true identity. Kaushik was then captured, tortured for two years at an interrogation center in Sialkot. He was given the death sentence in 1985. His sentence was later commuted to a life term by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He was kept in various jails in various cities, including Sialkot, Kot Lakhpat and in Mianwali jail for 16 years. He managed to secretly send letters to his family in India, which revealed his poor health condition and the trauma faced by him in Pakistani jails. In one of his letters he wrote:
Kya Bharat jaise bade desh ke liye kurbani dene waalon ko yahi milta hai?” (Is this the reward a person gets for sacrificing his life for a great nation like India?)

In November 2001, he succumbed to pulmonary tuberculosis and heart disease in Central Jail Mianwali in Punjab, Pakistan.

According to Ravindra’s family, Indian government refused to recognise him and made no effort to help him.

-Shikhar Swami