Aroosa Alam: The Pakistani woman at centre of Punjab storm

In the past few days, a heated political exchange in Punjab has dragged the name of the “Pakistani woman” into controversy. Things came to a head when Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa asked for a probe to ascertain whether Aroosa Alam has links with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), while suggesting that she may have influenced Amarinder Singh when he was in power. Navjot Kaur Sidhu, Punjab Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu's wife, also attacked Singh, alleging that not a single posting of any official took place in the state without "money or gifts" to Alam.What do we know about herIf you Google 'Aroosa Alam', you’ll find that she is a former defence journalist and daughter of Akleem Akhtar (Rani General), a close associate of Pakistan President General Yahya Khan. She is married and has two sons. Also, “Lift Karade” singer Adnan Sami is her nephew — the grandson of her maternal aunt. medium87581695In Pakistan, the 67-year-old is regarded as a media personality who stepped into the profession at a time when women journalists were few and far between. For someone who started her journalism career in the 1980s, under the rule of General Zia, as a high society reporter for the Pakistan Observer to becoming an “anti-establishment” investigative reporter with the now defunct The Muslim, and covering major beats such as defence and global affairs, Aroosa has worked for almost three decades in the Pakistani media industry. It has also allowed her an inside view of politics in Pakistan and India.In the wake of the freshly-minted controversy surrounding her, Alam may well have returned home to Pakistan, but her relationship with India, she says, is far from over. Having lived for over a decade and a half in Chandigarh, she is upset not just at being branded an “ISI agent”, but also in the manner in which the Congress high command removed Amarinder Singh from the post of Punjab CM. medium nocaption87582028At home in India“I first visited India in the early 2000s,” the Islamabad-based former journalist tells TOI+. I was elected president of The South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA)’s Islamabad Chapter and we had a conference in Hyderabad in the month of February and we stayed at Chand Sitara Hotel in Ramoji Festival City. My second trip was when Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf visited India for the Agra summit in 2001. And again in 2005, with a delegation led by then PM Shujaat Hussain, it was a party-to-party initiative between India and Pakistan, and that’s when I met Sonia Gandhi and other senior ministers and politicians.” medium87581921Relationship with CaptainIt was exactly a year later, in June 2006, she says, when she met Captain sa’ab and their friendship instantly blossomed. “I don’t know why people call me his confidante. I am just his friend, a very good friend, who would join him in his kitchen and garden. I would mingle with his sisters and other family members, other than maharani sahiba,” she says. “Captain sa’ab was very impressed with my journalistic capabilities and the stories I wrote. We used to have extensive discussions on matters of regional and international importance. He liked me a lot. He appreciated my abilities, simplicity, straightforwardness, my soft heart and my capacity of not harbouring ill intent towards anyone. Most of all, for knowing when to keep quiet and just listen.”Aroosa likes to believe that she is an outlier, someone who defies stereotypes and lives life on her own terms. “It’s not easy for a Pakistani woman to cross the Rubicon, but I managed. I journeyed across the border and went to stay with Captain sa’ab. I did so with conviction, fully aware of what I was doing,” she says. “I’m a rebel.” medium nocaption87582015In the 10 years Amarinder Singh was not in power in Punjab, from 2007 to 2017, she was seen by his side at all major events. When he became the chief minister again, she was among the exclusive guests to attend his swearing-in ceremony. She also attended the launch of Amarinder Singh's biography The People's Maharaja, in 2017, which reportedly has a chapter dedicated to her. When asked by the press at the time about her friendship with Captain, she said: “It is a sensitive issue even back home. I am a Muslim woman and you know how people back home think.”It wasn’t just society that needed convincing, but her family too. “Initially, my elder son Fakhar wasn’t comfortable about me moving to India,” she says. “When I told Captain sa’ab about how he was struggling to come to terms with our relationship, he arranged to meet him in Mumbai. After that, Fakhar himself came and told me, ‘Mom, he's a very fine gentleman, a thoroughbred. If you want to have a friend across the border, then he is the right guy. Go ahead.”Not an ISI agentAroosa is well aware that her closeness with Amarinder Singh has always been a subject of speculation. Last week, in an interview she said: “We met at a juncture in life where love affairs and romance don’t matter. We have been soulmates.” But the present controversy has left her seething.“They say I am an ISI agent, who has been visiting India for over two decades, getting due clearances, even though I was issued visas during the NDA and UPA governments, too,” she says. “This is an absurd allegation. Are they insinuating that India’s intelligence agencies are incompetent? These are all baseless claims. Let me reiterate, I am open to any investigation, by any agency or third-party, about my links with ISI.” medium nocaption87582043The controversy has also taken a toll on her physical and mental wellbeing. “I am in shock and depression,” she says, about the manner in which Amarinder Singh had to step down as Punjab CM at the end of September. “You don’t even sack your [domestic] help like that,” she says. “At first, I thought to myself I will not go back, but now I feel I must. So, whenever the visa issuance process opens up, I will return to India and take on the allegations head-on because I have nothing to hide from these faceless and shameless people.”A misunderstood figureAroosa Alam feels that she is misunderstood not just in India but Pakistan as well. “Both sides have failed to understand me as a human being,” she says. “In India, people think I am a power-hungry gold digger. And in Pakistan, people have been judgmental, including my own family, about my relationship. But time has proved my detractors wrong. After all, I grew close to Captain sa’ab when he was not in power.” medium87582129Despite having a close connection with India of 17 years, which she says was always difficult to travel to, as a single woman, now feels further distant with not just what is happening politically in Punjab. “It doesn’t help that India and Pakistan have been gripped in a deadlock ever since Article 370 status was revoked in Jammu and Kashmir,” she says. “Suddenly people like me, who are peacemakers, have been left in the lurch.”Aroosa tells us that she is working on a book to set the record straight. “Over the last couple of months, I have been working on a draft. Unfortunately, my portfolio of original newspaper clippings has gone missing. They could be either in India or Pakistan, I don’t know,” she says. “My writings will make the meat for my book. Believe me, I have a great story to tell.”Untitled Carousel 84614939