AS Dulat’s ‘The Chief Minister and The Spy’: A lasting bond in J&K’s quicksand history
In certain ways, Amarjit Singh Dulat’s book ‘The Chief Minister and the Spy’ reflects Jammu and Kashmir’s quicksand history. While our founding fathers welcomed J&K’s legal accession to India to disprove Jinnah’s two-nation theory, Pakistan countered it with armed aggression on religious grounds.
Simultaneously, suspicion of British involvement at certain levels arose immediately after the Pakistan irregulars’ invasion on October 22, 1947, through Major William Brown’s Gilgit Scouts’ revolt on November 2.
Hence, since 1947, India’s priority in J&K was to maintain a continuous dialogue with Kashmiri leaders of different hues through trusted interlocutors. This job faced difficulties with Sheikh Abdullah’s constant intransigence, as explained by the late BN Mullik, father of Indian intelligence.
It was made more difficult when senior Indian ministers like Gopalaswami Ayyangar, who was then handling Kashmir affairs, advised Mullik to abide by Abdullah’s wishes “in larger interests”. Even C Rajagopalachari, who had by 1951 become a harsh critic of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, told Mullik in 1953 that the IB should not have arrested the Sheikh and should have given him “a third alternative of autonomy or even semi-independence”.
It was into this labyrinthine world that Dulat entered in 1987. Since then, he has been New Delhi’s chief interlocutor with Kashmir for nearly four decades, even after his retirement. In 2020, an unidentified dignitary of the present NDA government requested him to meet Farooq Abdullah during his house arrest before he was released on March 13, 2020. That would speak volumes about his bipartisan acceptability.
Dulat says his chief role was to “interpret Kashmir” to New Delhi. He found that Farooq Abdullah was the real and trustworthy bridge between Srinagar and New Delhi to implement the latter’s objective of “an inclusive government that works cooperatively with Delhi” and to shun pro-Pakistani elements.
However, Dulat was astounded by the “lack of the Centre’s capability in understanding” this simple choice. He quotes history from Indira Gandhi’s era when, according to him, the “great divide” began “between New Delhi and Farooq and the people of Kashmir” from 1983. According to him, the same policy was continued by the present government too.
Dulat quotes several instances when his advice was sought at the highest government levels on how to deal with Farooq or to have a dialogue with him, the latest occasion being on February 12, 2020, narrated above. In November 1995, he was asked to brief Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, “who didn’t like Farooq too much”, on “how necessary is Farooq for the revival of the democratic process in Kashmir”. This resulted in Rao’s statement on November 4, 1995, offering a political package to Kashmir.
In December 1999, during the IC-814 hijacking, Dulat, who was the R&AW chief, was asked by Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh and NSA Brajesh Mishra to meet Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah to persuade him to release Kashmiri terrorist Mushtaq Zargar, as demanded by the hijackers in Kandahar. On that occasion, he had to tackle a visibly angry Farooq and hear “three hours of shouting” before he agreed to release Zargar.
The next was in July 2000, when tensions between Farooq’s National Conference and Prime Minister Vajpayee’s NDA government were high. Dulat advised Vajpayee to attend the funeral of Begum Abdullah, who passed away on July 1. “A thaw between Delhi and Srinagar set in immediately after.”
The way Dulat cultivated personal bonds with Farooq and his family reminds me of another “unlikely friendship” through their teenage sons, between Cuban leader Fidel Castro and James Donovan, a New York lawyer, which I had mentioned in my book ‘Intelligence Over Centuries’. Donovan, appointed by Robert Kennedy, brother of US President John F Kennedy, under ‘Project Mercy’ was able to reverse most of the damage, including the release of 1,202 American mercenaries, after the CIA’s ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion.
Dulat brings out Farooq’s finest qualities as a man who would “not keep carrying a grudge” and who “never believed in closing a door”. Also, he “is usually charm itself” after “he has lost his temper or been unreasonable or imperious”. It is hoped Farooq saab will get over his initial anger at Dulat and appreciate the underlying message in this book.
— The reviewer was Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat. Views are personal
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