Did Gaurav Gogoi secretly visit Pakistan in 2013? CM Himanta’s ‘spy’ charges against Congress MP, wife

Ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections, Assam is witnessing a major political controversy after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma held a press conference, where he accused Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi and his wife of harbouring Pakistani links. The Chief Minister’s press meet came as the government released a Special Investigation Team (SIT) report on the probe into the Congress MP's alleged links to Pakistan.

Himanta said the allegations were serious and warranted investigation by a central agency, stating that the SIT report revealed that Gaurav Gogoi's wife had shared confidential information with Pakistan. He had earlier also alleged that Gaurav Gogoi's British wife, Elizabeth Coleburn, had close ties to Pakistan, especially the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), while working in Pakistan under Tauqeer Sheikh, a former adviser to the Planning Commission of Pakistan.  

Pakistan visit

A major allegation Sarma raised against Gogoi was that he visited Pakistan in 2013 along with his wife. He was initially only allowed to visit Lahore, but was later granted permission to travel to Islamabad and Karachi as well.

"I was then told that Gaurav Gogoi had gone to the Pakistan High Commission with young people. Abdul Basit was the High Commissioner at the time. He said that such a picture could possibly be of any Congress leader. At first, I thought it was a photoshopped photo, but later, when I learned it was genuine, we launched an investigation. We felt there was something more to this photo. After this meeting, Abdul Basit came to Assam," Himanta alleged.

The Chief Minister said he believed Gogoi seemed to have undergone "some kind of training" there. 

He alleged that Elizabeth Colburn had worked with LEAD Pakistan, an  organisation run by Sheikh, before being transferred to India to work with the same group. "But her salary continued to be paid by Sheikh," he said. LEAD Pakistan sent money to LEAD India, and the latter paid to Colburn bypasssing FCRA regulations, the CM alleged.
"Pakistani agencies cannot donate to an Indian entity as it's an enemy nation. Probably special permission was obtained in UPA time to pay Colburn," he added.

The CM claimed that after working in India, Colburn started gathering information surrounding India and used to give reports to Sheikh. "Colburn got information from IB sources about climate action after Narendra Modi came to power. She sent a 45-page report to Sheikh," he added.

Meanwhile, more BJP leaders joined the controversy as senior leader  Pradeep Bhandari took to the social media platform X, questioning whether it was true or not that Gaurav Gogoi had allegedly visited the Pakistan High Commission on March 14, 2015, immediately after being elected as MP from Kaliabor in 2014, while leading a delegation of youth.

Gogoi’s response

Gogoi, also the state Congress chief, termed Sarma's presser "worse than a C-grade cinema" and a "super flop". In a post on X, Gogoi said: “I pity the journalists from Delhi and Assam who had to suffer the most flop press conference of the century. This was worse than a C-grade cinema."
"Most mindless and bogus points" have been offered by the "so-called political shrewd" CM of Assam, he said.
"This #SuperFlop is in contrast to our #XomoyParivartanYatra which has been a hit in uncovering the 12,000 bighas of land occupied by the Chief Minister and his family members," Gogoi said.