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Friday March 29, 2024

Hezb leader got son in medical college in India: Ex-RAW head

Says Vajpayee admitted Gujarat killings were a ‘mistake’

By Mariana Baabar
July 04, 2015
ISLAMABAD: Nothing can be more revealing or interesting than when a former spook who has seen it all finally spills the beans.
This is exactly what happened and has caught India by storm as former head of RAW, AS Dulat, also a member of Atal Bihari Vajapyee’s government, gave an interview to Karan Thapar’s To The Point programme.
Dulat has also been part of track two conferences between Pakistan and India and offers very realistic views in these meetings, and is about to launch his book, Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years.
In his interview, Dulat reveals how Syed Salahuddin, the head of the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Jihadi Council based in Pakistan, once contacted the head of IB in Srinagar (KM Singh) to ask for a place in a medical college for his son which Farooq Abdullah, then Chief Minister, arranged.
Dulat says there are frequent instances of IB and RAW doing such favours for militants and terrorists, including those in Pakistan. In this instance it was part of what could have been an attempt to lure Salauddin back which didn’t succeed.
Mirwaiz Farooq “lacks political courage”, says Daulat as he is both scared that he could be killed but he is also scared of the ISI and Pakistan. According to Dulat, Vajpayee wanted to make Farooq Abdullah Vice President but reneged on the promise. This was part of an idea Vajpayee had to make Omar Abdullah Chief Minister of Kashmir whilst making his father Farooq Vice President. He also reveals that Mufti Muhammad Sayeed “loves his Black Label Whisky”. He calls him “a tippler” and says that once upon a time the Mufti was called “Mufti Whisky”. Now, however, Dulat says the Mufti has given up drinking.
In 2002, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then Prime Minister, advised Sonia Gandhi against making Mufti Sayeed chief minister. This is because Delhi at that time had “grave doubts about Mehbooba Mufti”. They believed she had links with the Hizbul Mujahideen and Jamaat. As a result during a visit to Srinagar in April 2003,.Vajpayee insisted that Mehbooba should not be on the stage with him and Mufti Sayeed.
Brajesh Mishra as Principal Secretary to the PM and NSA “virtually ran the government”. He says Brajesh Mishra was more powerful than Home Minister LK Advani. He says Vajpayee readily acquiesced to this power arrangement.
Dulat recounts in detail how the Crisis Management Group in 1999 mishandled the hijack of IC 814. Dulat was a member of the CMG and head of RAW. He said they lacked focus and leadership and, therefore, were unable to give orders for the plane to be detained in Amritsar. They carried on debating and the plane flew away. He says the CMG “goofed” and bungled.
He recounts the fury and anger of Farooq Abdullah when he was informed that 3 terrorists had to be released as part of the IC 814 deal. He says Farooq ventilated his anger for 3 hours and then stormed off to meet Governor Saxena intending to resign. However, Governor Saxena calmed him down over 2 glasses of whisky and Farooq, eventually, accepted the situation and agreed to the release of terrorists.
Speaking about the Agra summit, Dulat says that a meeting LK Advani had with Gen Musharraf the night before soured the atmosphere. This is when Advani surprised Musharraf by asking for Dawood Ibrahim. This took Musharraf back and a shadow was cast thereafter on the Agra summit.
However, at Agra he was told by Brajesh Mishra that they were very close to agreement. As Mishra put it: “Yaar, hote-hote reh gaya … Ho gaya tha, who toh”. He said Vajpayee and Brajesh were palpably disappointed. Dulat also says that Ashraf Qazi, then Pakistani High Commissioner, told him that on three occasions Jaswant Singh had rung the Pakistanis to say a deal was done. But it never happened.
Vajpayee in 2004, after losing the elections, told him that the Gujarat killings of 2002 were “a mistake”. Vajpayee’s exact words were: “Woh hamare se galti hui”. Dulat says the pain and grief on Vajpayee’s face was clearly visible.