Rahul Gandhi's reference to his briefing by an "intelligence official" on the ISI having "contacted" 10-15 youth whose kin were killed in the Muzaffarnagar riots, for potential recruitment, has puzzled both retired and serving bureaucrats.

They are questioning how an intelligence official could brief the vice-president of a political party, who is not bound by the oath of secrecy.

They also criticized the Gandhi scion for going public with information that should have ideally prompted a secret intelligence operation to identify the youth contacted and neutralize the ISI agents carrying out sabotage and subversion in the hinterland.

"A potential prime minister of the country should have had more sense of national security. ISI is a hostile foreign agency recruiting people in the hinterland for sabotage and subversion. Rahul's response should have been more robust and decisive.

"He should have asked the intelligence official to go back to the Muslim boys contacted by ISI, lay a trap for these Pakistani agents and neutralize them," said former Intelligence Bureau chief Ajit Kumar Doval.

Read the full report on the Times of India