The Pakistani agent who stayed in Kashmir with open access to corridors of power for 10 years

It is incredible indeed that a German-American woman working for Pakistan’s government and agencies, who is allegedly behind the current terror threats to 76 Kashmiri journalists, stayed in Jammu & Kashmir for 10 years with open access to the corridors of power in the state before she was deported on the Centre’s direction in 2016.

Carin Ingrid Fischer a.k.a. Carin Jodha Fischer a.k.a Carin Matheke is a German origin US national who surfaced in Kashmir during the Congress-PDP government with the recommendation of a senior Congress leader and Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh in 2006.

Information gathered by Central intelligence agencies indicates that the hit list aimed to eliminate Kashmir’s journalists has been prepared by Turkey-based Kashmiri activist Mukhtar Baba who allegedly took inputs from his network of contacts in the valley. Baba has been reportedly settled in Turkey by Carin Jodha Fischer. He has frequently visited Pakistan from Turkey, spread false narrative and groomed the valley’s youths for terrorism under the banner of TRF.

Carin developed an intimate liaison with the PDP president and then Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. She operated as her undeclared Public Relations Officer from the Chief Minister’s residence, running social media campaigns against Farooq Abdullah’s National Conference. She also participated actively in the PDP leader Dilawar Mir’s election campaign in Rafiabad in 2008 and was once arrested on the complaint of the NC candidate Javed Ahmad Dar.

While overstaying in Kashmir without permit for several years, Carin operated as founder of the NGO ‘Rafiabad Rural Development Foundation’ and Managing Trustee of the NGO ‘J&K Rural Development Foundation’. However, there is no trace of these NGOs’ registration, despite the fact that some of the very prominent Indian politicians attended their events.

Before joining Mehbooba Mufti in Srinagar, Carin remained mostly based in the then senior PDP leader and Minister of Tourism Dilawar Mir’s Assembly constituency of Rafiabad in the Baramulla district of northern Kashmir. Despite no exposure in the field, she was projected as a ‘tourism expert’ and given contracts worth Rs 96 lakhs for ‘promotion of tourism’.  Soon she developed contacts with a number of the ruling PDP and Congress leaders. Several Ministers, two prominent editors and a leading automobile businessman, according to local CID reports, didn’t let the Police deport her for years. Under their pressure, the authorities extended her permit year after year.

In the year 2016, Carin was deported under the BJP Government’s instructions, despite Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s resistance, as the Central agencies reported her as a “security threat”. By then she had overstayed for 4 years.

On her Twitter handle, Carin held the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval responsible for her deportation. “German/American who lived in IOK (Indian Occupied Kashmir) for ten years until exiled by Hindu Extremist Regime in 2016. Nemesis: Ajit Doval” reads her introduction on Twitter.

In January 2021, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) hired Carin’s firms for lobbying against India for a monthly remuneration of $7,000. The PTI functionary Bilal Ahmad Ghaffar of Sindh was mentioned as principal officer in the lobbying contract. The job profile included government relations, media relations, public relations and “grassroots advocacy mobilization in Indian occupied Kashmir”.

According to reports from Washington DC, Carin has lately started working with the US career diplomat and lobbyist Robin Raphel who worked as Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs in President Bill Clinton’s government in 1993-97 and called for referendum in Kashmir as per the UN resolutions. Imran Khan is one among Raphel’s clients.

In 2013, based on the intercepted conversations of a Pakistani official, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) suspected Raphel of having passed on the US government secrets to the Pakistani government. Her house was raided in 2014. Her post-retirement contract with the State Department was allowed to expire prematurely on 2 November 2014.  However, the Justice Department closed the case in 2016.

Now based in Washington DC, Carin runs two lobbying firms, both registered in October 2020—Chinar Consulting LLC (EXTUID-4282772) and Kashmir Action Network (EXTUID-4283151). Both have jurisdiction limited to DC.

Carin made her first entry into India after she met Samar Jodha, a well-known Indian photographer during his photo exhibitions in Washington DC. Later Samar Jodha of Madhya Pradesh married her in Kerala. However, their union did not last long. As per one of the blog entries of Carin, both undertook a road trip from Yunnan (China) to Assam in India. However, they couldn’t complete the journey and were sent back by the Myanmar authorities. Nonetheless, they managed to enter India through Assam.

As per the India Business Directory by Amelia Publications, Carin served as the Director of Public Policy & Regulatory Affairs of a Delhi-based PR company ‘Perfect Relations Limited’, which was registered on February 25, 1994, by the co-founder Dilip Cherian. It is one of the leading PR agencies that has been also providing consultancy to various political parties in India.

Carin is no longer on the board of Perfect Relations. Its current board members include Anand Sharad Bhadkamkar, Ashish Bhasin, Dilip Cherian (Director), Nicholas James Latta Tomlinson.