Former chief of India’s premier intelligence agency, RAW, Amerjit Singh Dulat’s ‘startling revelations’ in an upcoming autobiographical book entitled “Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years” may give it the publicity the author needs, but there is nothing astonishing about the purported disclosures he has been making in his pre-launch media interviews. Dulat, who worked as an intelligence bureau officer in the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir before going on to head RAW and later serve as adviser to prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, claims that Indian intelligence agencies regularly pay “terrorists”, Hurriyat leaders and mainstream political parties, including the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party. In an interview with the Hindustan Times he averred, “Nobody is immune to bribes, not the militants, not politicians and not the separatists.” Over the years, he said, they have been paid by intelligence agencies, and boasted “we paid money to demonstrate that what the ISI can do we can do better, except kill people.”
State intelligence people are expected to try and infiltrate groups fighting for freedom in India or any other place and employ various means, including economic enticements, to weaken them from within. It is generally true that there are people everywhere always willing to make compromises at the lure of money; but not everyone is for sale. As regards the pro-India parties, such as Omar Abdullah’s National Conference and Mufti Saeed’s PDP, they would have no qualms about knowingly accepting financial support from RAW or some other Indian government source. Intelligence operatives may also have indirectly used money to engage with some other elements in the freedom movement. Dulat fails to establish, nonetheless, that any of the prominent Kashmiri leaders fell for the bait. According to him, Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin was willing to play along. He claims “one of India’s most wanted terrorists Syed Salahuddin was in touch with me and was ready to leave Pakistan and return to India.” That of course did not happen. If it was possible for RAW to buy the Hizb commander’s loyalty, why would it not do so? It’s a question that defies logic.
Facts on the ground do not substantiate the former RAW chief’s assertions. Despite his claims of Indian spies being in touch with everyone – Kashmiri fighters and separatist leaders – bribing them to have more influence on them than the Pakistanis, the situation in the Occupied Kashmir has changed little. The Valley remains in turmoil; the Hurriyat leaders continue to stick to their demand to decide a new future for J&K; street protests, and encounters between freedom fighters and government forces keep erupting every now and then. Dulat indirectly contradicted his claims about buying loyalties of ‘militants’ and separatist leaders when he averred in his HT interview that “there is no getting away from talks with the Hurriyat, you can’t only be talking to Mufti Saeed”; and that “the Kashmiris initially welcomed Modi because they thought he would carry the Vajpayee policy.” In other words, despite the RAW throwing money at whosoever was deemed relevant, the situation on the ground has not changed in India’s favour. That in fact is the reason why Dulat has managed to create a lot of excitement about his book even though his ‘disclosures’ lack validity or insight.
