‘ISI Didn’t Expect Militancy To Explode In 90s, Jagmohan Wasn’t Responsible For Pandit Exodus – But He Was Happy About It’
New Delhi: The launch of former RAW chief Amar Singh Dulat’s explosive memoir “The Chief Minister and The Spy” in New Delhi on Friday has reignited political tensions, with the book making startling claims about National Conference (NC) patriarch Dr. Farooq Abdullah’s role during the abrogation of Article 370.
Addressing the audience during the book launch, Dulat dismissed the brewing controversy: “Dr. Saheb [Farooq Abdullah] is not here. I don’t know how this started, but few have read the book. Someone picked one paragraph from page 208 and twisted it – English is a difficult language,” Dulat said in his speech.
“This book isn’t about that paragraph. Read what comes before and after. The story is about a great man – the tallest leader of Kashmir, one of India’s tallest. He’s among the world’s tallest leaders. Dr. Saheb is a legend. That won’t change,” he said.
When pressed about allegations that Abdullah tacitly supported the Article 370 revocation, Dulat was unequivocal. I really don’t know what transpired. I did ask Dr. Sahab and Omar as well, and they said, “We were told nothing at all. While writing this book, I again asked Dr. Sahab, and he said, ask Omar, but…The response I got from both father and son was that they had been told nothing. So, it’s got nothing to do with what people are saying today. It’s a lot of rubbish—that’s all I can say.”
Dulat added further that no one in Kashmir supported the 370 repeal. “There was not a single Kashmiri anywhere who supported the abrogation. And there were a lot of Indians who spoke against it—I did. I wrote against it, spoke against it, and so did many others. I remember our former Union Home Minister, Chidambaram, speaking with a lot of passion in Parliament, referring to it as a “monumental blunder.” So, there’s no question of any Kashmiri supporting it. Now, of course, as time has passed and the Supreme Court says everything is okay, Kashmiris probably feel that 370 is not coming back—though they’re still willing to fight for it.”
He recounted a poignant February 2020 meeting: “What transpired between Dr. Farooq and me was that he couldn’t fathom why, after being with India all his life—his family, his father, everybody—they had to lock him up. That was the crux of it. So he said, “If they had to do this, why couldn’t they take us into confidence?” That’s the crux of the whole thing.”
Dulat blamed media sensationalism, claiming that The Hindustan Times story wrecked everything. ”As I said, I don’t know who started this deliberately—somebody did, obviously—because that first story in Hindustan Times wrecked everything. It rattled everyone, and I think it probably shook Dr. Sahab too. I don’t know what frame of mind he’s in, but obviously, it disturbed him. I can’t say who is responsible. It’s very difficult to say, and I don’t want to name names here because I think this is a happy occasion and ought to end happily. But yes, somebody was responsible—I don’t know who.”
The ex-spy revealed how Kashmir became his life’s work. “In 1988, I thought it was a holiday posting. By 1989, bombs were exploding. That winter, everyone fled – we lost four officers in weeks. Jagmohan had me removed, calling me ‘Farooq’s man.’ But Kashmir never left me.”
He named three figures, who targeted him: “Jagmohan, Mufti Sayeed, and Arun Nehru – they wanted me out.”
Reflecting on the insurgency’s origins, Dulat said: “We wasted a chance in 1989-90. The JKLF boys didn’t understand ‘azadi.’ Pakistan’s ISI exploited them – General Durrani told me even they were surprised by the militancy’s spread.”
On the Pandit exodus, Dulat said that then governor Jagmohan should not be blamed for the exodus of pandits however he was happy about it. “I was there when it started. A prominent Kashmiri Pandit (quoted in my book) came to me desperately, saying, “We have to go.” There was so much fear—especially after Judge Ganju was killed on Hari Singh High Street. Nobody came for hours to retrieve his body—he bled to death. A lot of blame is put on Jagmohan—but I don’t think he was responsible for the exodus. He was happy with it because if Pandits stayed, more would’ve been killed, and he’d have gotten the blame.”
Recounting the 1999 Kandahar hijacking, Dulat revealed during the book launch that Farooq Abdullah [then Chief Minister] theatrically threatened to resign when Delhi demanded prisoner releases. “We went to Governor Saxena at 10 PM – he served Black Label and said to Dr Farooq, ‘You’re a big man, don’t resign.’ Farooq relented,” claimed Dulat.
In a stunning historical assessment, Dulat declared that history will judge Farooq Abdullah greater than his father. “He is a man with very strong and good political instincts, but he’s also a very brave man to have endured all that he has. As a politician, I think he’s one of the best. I’ve written in the book that he’s the Sultan of Politics. When history is written, Dr. Farooq will emerge even greater than Sheikh Abullah. Now, I’m not saying spending 12 or 13 years in jail is easy, but the Sheikh had Mahatma Gandhi on his side. He had Nehru on his side. You know the story—when the Sheikh was finally released, he came to Delhi and stayed as the Prime Minister’s guest. Would that happen today?”
