In the case pertaining to Indian social media influencers and YouTubers working as Pakistan’s spies, the name of a Pakistani woman Noshaba Shehzad Masood, whom intelligence agencies are identifying as ‘Madam N’, has emerged. This Pakistani woman runs a ‘travel agency’ in Lahore and helped Indian social media influencers and travel vloggers like Jyoti Malhotra to visit Pakistan and laid groundwork for using them as spies for Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Codenamed as ‘Madam N’, Noshaba Shehzad runs a Lahore-based company ‘Jaiyana Travel and Tourism’. Her name emerged during the interrogation of arrested Indian influencers who were operating as Pakistani spies. This Madam N was working to set up a massive sleeper cell network of at least 500 spies who can hide in plain sight across India and transfer sensitive information to ISI.
As per an NDTV report, Noshaba Shehzad aka Madam N’s husband is a retired officer of the Pakistani civil services. The Pakistani Army and the ISI gave her instructions on how to set up the sleeper cell network in India.
Noshaba Shehzad lured Indian Hindus and Sikhs and introduced them to Pakistan Army and the ISI. With Madam N’s help, around 3,000 citizens from India and 1,500 non-resident Indians (NRIs) visit Pakistan in the last six months.
She also had influence in Pakistani embassy in New Delhi and had been in in touch with the First Secretary (visa) Suhail Qamar and Counsellor (trade) Umar Sheryar. This essentially meant that she could easily arrange a Pakistani visa for whoever she wanted to visit Pakistan. Noshaba Shehzad was also in touch with Danish alias Ehsan-ur-Rehman, who worked as a visa officer in the Pakistani embassy in Delhi and was expelled from India after Jyoti Malhotra was exposed.
Noshaba Shehzad’s company is the only agency that organises Sikh and Hindu pilgrimage to Pakistan, which works in collaboration with the Evacuee Trust Property Board. Despite there being no system for sending tourists from India to Pakistan and no process for issuing tourist visas to Indian citizens, the Pakistan High Commission in India was frequently issuing visas on the recommendation and sponsorship of Noshaba.
‘Madam N’ used to charge huge amounts from Indian pilgrims and then used the money for furthering Pakistani propaganda. She also appointed several travel agents in Indian cities, including the national capital, to promote her travel agency. It is through these agents that she was trapping new people.
