Former intelligence chiefs talk peace

INDIA’S DULAT AND PAKISTAN’S DURRANI WHO AUTHORED A BOOK TOGETHER SAY TALKS MUST BE HELD DESPITE RISING BORDER TENSIONS

At a time when the India-Pakistan border is crackling with persistent gunfire with mounting casualties on both sides, former Indian intelligence chief A.S. Dulat has floated a disruptive proposal — invite Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa for a dialogue to reduce tension and talk peace.

Dulat said General Bajwa was making all the “right noises”, referring to his April remarks that disputes, including Kashmir, between India and Pakistan can be solved only through peace talks.

“We should invite General Bajwa, the army chief. He has been talking peace and also a lot of our frustration in our dialogue with Pakistan is because we feel frustrated by the armed forces or what we call the ‘deep state’ — the ISI or the army. Therefore, why not talk to the army chief directly? He is talking reasonably now. Why not invite the army chief, just an idea,” Dulat told IANS in an interview at his south Delhi residence.

India has maintained that it will talk only to the elected civilian leadership in Pakistan and has shunned talking to the Pakistani military, which however controls key decision-making on foreign policy — particularly with respect to India — and security in the Pakistani establishment.

Dulat served as chief of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the country’s external intelligence agency, from 1999 to 2000 and was a close aide of then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Kashmir affairs from 2001 to 2004.

He has participated in a somewhat unique book of dialogues, The Spy Chronicles — RAW ISI And The Illusion Of Peace with his once rival, former Pakistani spy chief Lt. Gen. Asad Durrani (retd).

The book throws light on Kashmir, and a missed opportunity for peace; Hafiz Saeed and 26/11; Kulbhushan Jadhav; surgical strikes; the deal for Osama Bin Laden; how the US and Russia feature in the India-Pakistan relationship; and how terror undermines the two countries’ attempts at talks.

Dulat, who has previously authored Kashmir:

The Vajpayee Years, said “not talking to Pakistan is a sort of a handicap” more so at a time when geopolitical landscape was witnessing a new churn.

“There is a lot happening in the world around us and they are all taking interest in this particular region. The Americans have a big interest in Pakistan and in Afghanistan.

“Likewise now, the Chinese, the Russians and the Iranians have all developed interest and we need to take note of that and in that, I think, not talking to Pakistan will not help,” he said.

But is it wise to extend an invitation to the Pakistani army chief, particularly at this juncture when ceasefire violations across the frontier have killed scores of civilians and over 40,000 residents were forced to flee their homes from the border areas in Jammu? “Isn’t it more reason that we should talk,” Dulat asked, adding: “You are presuming that all these ceasefire violations happen only from the Pakistani side and only our people are suffering.

“There is a their side of the story also, it can’t be one-sided. If there is firing from one side, the Army or the BSF is bound to respond.”

Dulat, who served in Kashmir as the Joint Director of the Intelligence Bureau from 1988 to 1990, maintained that “there is no military solution” to the seven-decade old conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and triggered two wars (1948 and 1965) and a prolonged military skirmish (1999) between the two nucleararmed powers.

“There is only so much that the army can do; after that it is time for the politicians to play their part,” he said.

Former ISI chief, Lt. Gen. Asad Durrani, who has triggered a controversy in Pakistan with a book he co-authored with his oncerival Indian spymaster, says that the army and the intelligence agency of his country have never stopped any civilian government in Islamabad from improving ties with India if done on the basis of “sound principles” of international relations.

“The common belief (that civilian governments in Pakistan are subservient to the military when it comes to critical foreign policies) is seriously flawed. No one ever prevented a civilian government from improving relations with India — if it did that according to sound principles of relations between nations. Otherwise, even a military ruler like (Pervez) Musharraf could come to grief,” Durrani told IANS in an email interview from Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief was denied a visa for the launch of the book, The Spy Chronicles: RAW ISI And The Illusion Of Peace, which was released jointly by India’s former Vice President Hamid Ansari, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Union minister Yashwant Sinha in New Delhi on May 23. He has since been summoned by Pakistan Army asking him to explain his position on views attributed to him in the book of dialogues.

Asked about his remarks in a pre-recorded video played at the book launch in which he blamed the “Indian deep state” for being instrumental in denying him a visa, Durrani said: “Every country has a ‘deep state’- at times called ‘establishment’ or ‘nomenclatura’ (of the Soviet era) and is composed differently. “India and the US have some of the most powerful ones. They keep the political leadership ‘in line’.”

Replying to a question about current border tension between India and Pakistan with talks stalled and all sports and cultural exchanges at a standstill, the former ISI chief said nothing was “forever” in ties between the two nucleararmed nations.

“Thaws and freezes will come and go in the foreseeable future. The single most important factor that holds back is India’s entrenched belief that the ‘status quo’ suited her better. Any major change, even if seemingly of some good, would create a dynamics that India might not be able to control,” he pointed out.

In the book, Durrani suggests that instead of having “a confidant of each Prime Minister, a team headed by someone considered suitable by the major political parties, the foreign office and the military”, should be engaged for talks “to ensure their long-time relevance”.

Asked how was it possible when neighbourhood policy of the two countries changed with their dispensation, Durrani said: “Precisely for that reason. If there was wider participation there might be more chances that the policies would not be fiddled with ‘too much’. Indeed, the government of the day has the prerogative but in most cases was unlikely to ride roughshod like (US President Donald) Trump.”

Asked if he agreed with his Indian counterpart’s assertion that India should talk directly with the Pakistan Army, the former military general said: “Dialogues take place at multiple levels — official and unofficial. But a political umbrella for the process is the sine qua non (essential condition) for (its) success.”

About Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s remarks that India and Pakistan need to talk to solve all their disputes, including Kashmir, Durrani said it wasn’t unprecedented for any military chief to advocate peace talks.

“I can’t read his (Bajwa’s) mind. But hardly any chief before him said anything different. (Former military dictator General) Zia ul Haq even used ‘cricket diplomacy’.”

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A.S. Dulat, Former RAW chief to Modi Pakistan Army won’t stop Islamabad from improving ties with India:

Gen. Durrani , ISI ex-chief