Married a Pakistani soldier, got her husband killed after pregnancy and helped India win, read the extraordinary story of an Indian female spy

India.com

08-05-2025

Married a Pakistani soldier, got her husband killed after pregnancy and helped India win, read the extraordinary story of an Indian female spy
Remember movie Raazi where Alia Bhat becomes an Indian spy and enters Pakistan by marrying an Army general in Pakistan? Such is the story of spy named Sahamat whose father wanted her to serve the country and hence she married an army officer in Pakistan.
This story begins in 1969. A student from Jammu and Kashmir studying in Delhi University was suddenly called home by her father. The father's last wish was to prepare his daughter to serve the country. This girl later became famous by the name 'Sahamat' who played an important role in the 1971 war.
Father was also a spy
According to Harinder Singh Sikka's novel 'Calling Sahamat', Sahamat's father worked for India's intelligence agency R&AW. Due to business, he had contacts across the border. Due to this, during the 1965 war, he received many important messages from Pakistan and delivered them to the Indian agency. He had cancer and the disease had reached a stage where treatment was not possible. He wanted his daughter to work for the country after him.
Marriage in Pakistan
At that time, Sahamat, who was only 20 years old, was doing her graduation and was also learning classical dance and violin playing. On her father's insistence, she left her studies and became a spy. She was sent to Pakistan on a mission. She had to find out what plans were being made among the top officers of the Pakistani army. For this mission, Sahamat had to marry Pakistani army officer Iqbal Syed. Iqbal's father Brigadier Parvez Syed was also a senior officer in the army. Sahamat was told that she had to listen to the conversations of army officers. She was also given basic training to send and receive emergency messages through Morse code.
Influence in the army
Sahamat not only won the trust of her in-laws but also of other families living in the army quarters. Her art of music and dance came in handy. She started training children in the army school. Along with the grandchildren of General Yahya Khan, children of top officers of the Pakistani army also studied in this school. Gradually, Sahamat gained access to the Pakistani defence sector and intelligence circles. Because of him, his father-in-law Brigadier Parvez Syed also got the benefit of promotion.
Destruction of Ghazi
Meanwhile, the war between India and Pakistan was almost certain in 1971. At that time India had the indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant. This carrier proved to be strategically very important in India's victory over Pakistan and the independence of Bangladesh. However, Pakistan was aware of this and then planned to target the Indian warship deployed in the Bay of Bengal. Pakistan assigned the mission of sinking the Indian warship to its missile-equipped submarine PNS Ghazi. Sahamat came to know about this. He sent information related to the positioning of PNS Ghazi to India and the Indian Navy took immediate action and sank the Pakistani submarine near Visakhapatnam port. All the people on board were killed.
Return to the country
Abdul, a close associate of the Syed family, suspected Sahamat. Sahamat killed him by crushing him with a truck. Sahamat's husband Iqbal also came to know the truth. Sahamat's handlers killed him too. She was pregnant, and then she returned safely to India. After this, she decided to spend the rest of her life in Malerkotla, Punjab. The boy with whom she had first fallen in love in DU was still waiting for her. But, Sahamat, with a burden of blood on her heart, was not ready. That boy then raised Sahamat's son, who later became an army officer himself. Sahamat died in 2018 and his real identity has been kept secret till date so that his son is not in danger.