New Delhi, March 21 : The spy rings that the Indian agencies have been unearthing in recent months were not just focussing on providing sensitive information regarding the Indian armed forces. Within the espionage network, there are a bunch of people who were instructed to only focus on places of religious worship.

Investigations have revealed that these persons were specifically told to scout for information relating to places of religious worship. Many had gathered information regarding Hindu temples in various parts of the country.

An Intelligence Bureau official said that temples are being increasingly scanned by these elements. This clearly signals that these people were providing information on temples, so that the ISI could plot attacks. An attack on a temple would lead to communal tensions and this is what the Pakistan spy agency has been aiming for.

The official added that recent intercepts and the ongoing investigations into the espionage cases have revealed that the Pakistan-based elements are focussing heavily on hitting temples in India. This is being done with the intention of inciting communal tensions in India.

Inciting communal violence is a stronger tool for the ISI when compared to a terror attack. Such violence spreads easily and this causes a greater deal of instability.

Moreover there are elections that are round the corner in multiple states and if violence erupts at such a time, it would add to the stress of the security mechanism.

Officials say that in the first phase the spies have been asked to scout and provide information about smaller temples.

Once the first phase of the plan is implemented then the idea was to move on to bigger places of worship the official also added.

Another disturbing trend that has come to light is that the spies recruited by the Pakistanis have been told to place cameras at sensitive locations. This came to light during a probe by the Ghaziabad police following the arrest of six people from the Kaushambi area on March 14.

It was learnt that these persons had managed to install a camera at the Delhi Cantt railway station. This helped the ISI in securing live feed from the station.

Similarly the members of the espionage network were told to install cameras near temples, so that the logistics could be secured live.

Access to a live camera means that the planners of the terror attack will get to study the security detail live.

The changes and other details are also easily accessible to these elements.

Inciting communal tensions has been an old trick of the ISI. Even when the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) was passed, there were several ISI-backed elements, who ran a disinformation campaign that led to communal riots in many places.

The Intelligence agencies had that time warned that the ISI-backed elements have infiltrated the protests and are looking to spin a communal angle to the act.

Even the Pahalgam attack was aimed at inciting communal tensions apart from trying to ruin the tourism industry in Jammu and Kashmir.

The terrorists who carried out the attack asked the victims about their religion before killing them.

It was a clear sign that the main ploy was to incite communal tensions and bring about a rift between the people of Jammu and Kashmir and those living in other parts of India.

Another official said that the ISI-backed elements are looking to carry out a major strike on places of worship ahead of the elections that will be held in April. These elements are aware that elections are taking place in sensitive states and hence would look to take advantage of the situation.

Elections are being held in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and in the Union Territory of Puducherry. Security is a concern in all these states as both internal and external elements would look to drum up communal tensions.

An official said that a close watch must be kept on religious sites as this is the time, these elements would look to carry out a strike.

/IANS