Dulat instigates Kashmiri Muslims, frightens PM Modi

Former RAW chief A S Dulat warns Modi government on Kashmir’s future

Former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief A S Dulat, who is also co-author of “Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years” and who worked with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee as his advisor on Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) for five-and-a-half years, on January 26, 2025, warned the Narendra Modi government that the “happiness” of Kashmiris (in this case Kashmiri Muslims) following the Assembly elections in 2024 “is temporary.” Additionally, he suggested that they were awaiting the fulfillment of the promise of J&K’s statehood and the “credibility” of both Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and the Centre “is on the line.” On January 26, Dulat actually made a comprehensive representation of his autobiography “A Life in the Shadows: A Memoir” while speaking at the eighth edition of the Kerala Literature Festival (KLF). The event was organized at Kozhikode (Kerala) beach and many participated in the event.

Temporary happiness

What exactly did Dulat say about Kashmir, Kashmiri Muslims, and their so-called aspirations? What did he say about the Narendra Modi government and its attitude towards Kashmir and Kashmiri Muslims? He, inter-alia, said: “(Omar) Abdullah, who expressed his desire for a good relationship with the Central government soon after becoming the Chief Minister, is not ‘asking for much’ by seeking the restoration of J&K’s statehood. What’s Omar asking for? What does a Kashmiri expect? Article 370 is gone, it’s not that it has gone out of Kashmiris’ mind, they still think about 370. But Omar knows it is not coming back. What he craves for his self-respect, the statehood. I think it is in the interest of both Delhi and Srinagar that the statehood is returned at the earliest. It has to be done for the credibility of both sides, otherwise, Omar will lose his and so will Delhi…Now statehood has become an issue and the way Delhi looks at it: ‘Yes, yes we are committed to restoration of statehood, but we will do it at the time of our liking’. It may not happen for quite a while…”

Not just this. Warning the Modi government, Dulat further said: “The apparent ‘happiness’ on the faces of Kashmiris is ‘temporary.’ For example, if nothing is done within the next six months regarding the restoration of statehood to J&K, Kashmiris will once again accuse ‘Delhi of playing tricks’ with them and criticize the Chief Minister for not delivering…‘Right now, people are temporarily happy because they see it as a victory for Kashmiris. They have the government of their choosing, the National Conference (NC), which is a regional party. It is a victory for the Abdullah family, which is the family of Kashmir. But this victory won’t last. If they can’t get what they are supposed to get and what is their due, then people will again say ‘This government is not good.’ Delhi must recognize the region’s complexity…There is nothing ‘black-and-white’ about Kashmir, rather, it is defined by its ‘greys’ and is filled with nuances. In Kashmir, it is not what we want or what they want, but about finding a ‘middle path.’ That is the path that we need to tread.”[1]

Middle path

Six things were clear from what Dulat said and suggested. One was that Kashmir and Kashmiri Muslims in his scheme of things were the sole factor in the J&K’s political situation and they deserved a different treatment.

The other was that he had no place whatsoever in his scheme of things for Jammu province and the suffering people of the region. To be more exact, he, like the bulk of the so-called Kashmir experts, think tanks, conflict managers, and trouble-shooters, considered Jammu province and the people of Jammu province as no more than subjects of Kashmir and Kashmiri Muslim leadership, or their personal appendages.

The third thing was that he didn’t talk about the grave evils that would follow on the restoration of full state status to J&K and he suppressed this stark reality willfully to mislead his KLF audience. He suppressed the fact that the Kashmiri Muslim ruling elite exploited the full state status (Home, Finance, Law, Revenue, and General Administration Departments), to the hilt to further widen the gulf between Kashmir and New Delhi and hurt the Hindu-majority Jammu province and the Buddhist-majority Trans-Himalayan Ladakh at all levels and in all spheres.

The fourth thing was his formulation: The 2024 Assembly elections were “a victory for the Abdullah family, which is the family of Kashmir.” His formulation on what he called the Abdullah family was as amusing and laughable as it was disturbing and mischievous given that this family muddied the Dogra waters in Kashmir between 1931 and October 1947 and has been muddying the Indian waters in Kashmir ever since the nominated Prime Minister of the Indian Dominion, Jawaharlal Nehru, transferred political power from Jammu to Srinagar, or from Dogra Jammu to Sheikh Mohd Abdullah of Kashmir, in October 1947 after throwing to the wind all norms, and much to chagrin of the Dogras, who were at the helm between March 1846 and October 1947.

The fifth thing was that Dulat virtually instigated Kashmiri Muslims and frightened the Modi government by saying what he said about Article 370, or about the temporary happiness of Kashmiri Muslims.

And, the sixth thing was that he sought to create an impression that meeting the demands of Omar Abdullah would be the same as fulfilling the demands of all Kashmiris, internally displaced and persecuted Kashmiri Hindus included, and the Modi Government must tread what he mischievously called the “middle path.”

Kashmiri Muslim cause

However, it was not the first time that Dulat openly and in a most brazen manner championed the Kashmiri Muslims’ communal cause. He has not only been indulging in such undesirable activities and flirting or hobnobbing with the Abdullahs, the Muftis, and the Mirwaizs since decades, but also creating an impression that J&K was not really a settled issue and that if peace and normality are to return to the region, New Delhi has to engage with (the aggressor) Pakistan and settle the issue once and for all.

Take, for example, what Dulat said on February 24, 2015, March 21, 2016, August 24, 2016, May 5, 2017, October 8, 2017, August 27, 2019, December 20, 2022, and June 18, 202,3 while batting for the Abdullahs, the Muftis, the Mirwaizs, and even Pakistan.

On February 24, 2015, Dulat, among other things, said: “If Mehbooba (Mufti) is running out of options and in a no-win situation, Pakistan, which currently appears to be more on people’s mind in Delhi, is in a win-win situation in Kashmir. Little wonder then that the Valley is on the boil again…Delhi needs to go deeper into the psyche of a woman (in this case Mehbooba Mufti) orphaned, for whom her beloved father (Mufti Sayeed) was God. If and when Delhi fathoms the depth, the alliance could be back on track without concessions necessarily on AFSPA or hydel projects…”[2]

It’s imperative to reflect on why Dulat said what he said: The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti could have occupied the coveted highest executive office in J&K a day after her father Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed died at New Delhi’s All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on 7 January 2016. The BJP, the post-poll ally of the PDP, had expressed itself in favour of joining the government under her leadership. But Mehbooba Mufti chose not to assume the office. At the same time, she neither overruled nor ruled on the possibility of re-stitching alliance with the BJP. Nor did she talk to the media or hold any party meetings for three long weeks after the demise of her father. She remained confined within the four walls of her Srinagar Fairview residence. She didn’t meet senior party leaders or functionaries except for her close confidant and party’s chief spokesperson Naeem Akhtar.

Her silence and inactivity during those three weeks surprised her supporters, critics, and even political pundits. The reasons were obvious. After all, she was Kashmir’s most vocal, most visible, and very active and radical political leader.[3]

It was only on 31 January that she met with Senior PDP leaders, members of Parliament, legislators, office-bearers, district presidents, and zonal presidents at her residence. Everyone in the state and New Delhi assumed that the meetings were to discuss government formation. But this was not to be. She only discussed organisation-related matters, reflected on the difficulties that her father faced during March-December, 2015, when he was in the driving seat, and gave everyone to understand that she was not in haste. It would be only desirable to reproduce verbatim some relevant portions from her 45-minute address to party leaders and legislators. Such an exercise will help put things in perspective.

She said: “Mufti Mohammad Sayeed took a courageous, although unpopular, decision of aligning with BJP with the hope that the Central Government headed by Narendra Modi will take decisive measures to address the core political and economic issues concerning J&K and its people. Instead of partnering with and implementing Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s vision of bringing peace, stability, and prosperity to J&K, certain quarters (read BJP leaders), both within J&K and in New Delhi, started overtly and covertly triggering frequent controversies over avoidable contentious issues resulting in wastage of the state government’s energies in firefighting and propitiation. In such violative circumstances around, we will have to reassess whether we can absorb the shocks which Mufti Sahab had to do so frequently in his effort to forge reconciliation between the regions and the people of the state. The PDP can’t form a government just for the sake of power but, if it does, it will be, as envisioned by Mufti Sahab, with the objective of addressing the core political and economic issues confronting J&K as was done by the PDP-led (coalition) Government between 2002 and 2005.”

She further said: “I am ready to burn my fingers, but I will not burn them for nothing…I am not averse to government formation, but that can only happen if the Government of India gives assurances on time-bound implementation of the (March 1, 2015, PDP-BJP) agenda of alliance. My father had broad shoulders. He could take a huge burden. I don’t have shoulders as strong as he had. If anyone among you still feels we must form the government, as it has been during the last 10 months (March 1, 2015-January 7, 2016), you are free to make your choice. I am prepared to begin alone a battle for the realization of Mufti sahib’s vision, beginning from scratch if it has to be so.”[4]

A day later, she reiterated her stand. Addressing the PDP Legislature Party meeting at her residence, she, inter-alia, said: “My biggest legacy is my party and my father’s vision to take the state out of political uncertainty. If I feel we can make progress on the agenda of alliance, even if I get consumed by joining hands with the BJP, I won’t mind. I am ready to make this sacrifice…But if we can’t achieve the set goals, I won’t compromise even if I am left alone in this battle.”

A report in the Indian Express (April 4, 2016) on the issue of government formation, among other things, read like this: “Mehbooba’s decision not to take over immediately, and instead seek assurances from the ruling BJP at the Centre on the coalition partner’s ‘agenda of alliance’, also didn’t go as per her plan. Instead of providing a ‘helping hand’ to Mehbooba as Mufti’s successor on the Chief Minister’s chair and head of the coalition in J&K, BJP decided to play hardball and refused to give her ‘political cushion’ to begin her new innings.”[5]

What did the report on the BBC (April 4, 2016) in this regard say? It, inter-alia, said: “Ms Mufti took oath after a delay of nearly three months since her father’s death. It was a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 23 March that finally allowed the re-stitching of the ‘unusual’ alliance of two diametrically opposite political parties – Ms Mufti’s PDP and India’s ruling Hindu nationalist BJP…In sharp contrast to the BJP, the PDP has been seen as a pro-Kashmir party and critics accuse it of peddling ‘soft separatism’ revolving around reconciliation with Pakistan and separatist groups fighting against Indian rule in Kashmir. Ms Mufti is seen by many in India as a ‘militant mainstream politician’ – with a history of showing solidarity with families of militants. But now, she is in the hot seat. She refused to take office immediately after her father’s death, insisting on some ‘confidence building measures’, but finally managed to broker a ‘secret’ deal with Mr. Modi in a recent meeting…”[6]

On March 21, 2016, Dulat, among other things, said: “…Via BJP general secretary Ram Madhav she wanted an assurance from the Government of India, preferably the Prime Minister, that the Agenda of Alliance would be respected and adhered to within a time frame, something Mufti Sahab constantly craved. Like her father, she misread Delhi. Ironically, pressing for a meeting with the Prime Minister may have brought matters to a head. Narendra Modi refused to budge because Delhi had already decided that enough was enough and it was not willing to humour Ms. Mufti any further. In the circumstances, what possible sop or face-saver could she carry back home, and how long would it hold? It must be a distraught, if not humiliated, Ms. Mufti who headed back home. She did not deserve this. The Mirwaiz may have been right when he attributed the increasing turmoil to the constricted political space in the state…”[7]

What Dulat said on February 24, 2015, and March 21, 201,6 must be viewed in the context of what Mehbooba Mufti wanted from the Centre and what the Modi government was willing to concede or not concede, or in the context of delay in government formation. It would be only right to say that Dulat was not really happy with the Narendra Modi government’s attitude towards Mehbooba Mufti.

On August 24, 2016, Dulat batted for a dialogue between the Modi government and Kashmiri separatists, especially APHC chairman and cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Batting for them, he, among other things, said: “There is another erroneous belief that Kashmiris may not be prepared to talk. Kashmiris are always ready and willing to talk. On August 20(,2016), the Northern Army Commander, Lt Gen D S Hooda, made a very reasonable offer to talk with everyone, including the separatists, to bring peace to the Valley. And the Mirwaiz immediately responded positively, going to the extent of saying that Kashmiris were prepared to talk to the Army if it could find a solution to Kashmir. If there was no Hurriyat, we might need to invent one since it represents a thought that was willing to be mainstreamed by engagement. Now that Mirwaiz has time to think, he needs to seriously contemplate his future…Ultimately, the protests, which are going nowhere, will become wearisome. So, this too shall pass. But the hangover could create more terrorists. Discontent has long tentacles. Burhan Wani is said to be a product of the 2010 uprising and now his father, Muzzafar, a headmaster, is demonstrating pretensions of a leader.”[8]

On May 5, 2017, Dulat again batted for a dialogue with Kashmiri separatists. He, inter-alia, said: “My point is there is no solution to Kashmir but why does India not want to give hope to Kashmiris? When India talks you give hope, shayad kuch ho jayen…I would again and again say, please talk. Talking to Kashmiris is not subversive. It’s not anti-national. The uprising after the killing of Burhan Wani surprised Pakistan. They returned with a vengeance…ISI, Lashkar and Mujahideen are back…In the last five years, Pakistan tried its best to unite all factions of Hurriyat. They failed but now they have got together because this Indian Government doesn’t even look at them…When we refused to even talk, what options do Kashmiri leaders have? They have only one fall-back position: show the green flag to Delhi. It’s a sad situation. This government is sensitive to so-called Hindu sentiment. Is that why it doesn’t want to pamper Kashmiris? Possibly, yes, it is. But I want to say that pampering is good… Kashmiris are disappointed to see that nothing happened after Modi took over. Where has Vajpayee’s insaniyat ka daira gone? Modiji must show his support to Mehbooba. Only then would things start getting better.”[9]

On October 8, 2017, Dulat held the Modi government responsible for enabling Pakistan to make Kashmir again a big issue. Actually, that day, Dulat addressed an event titled “Spymasters Speak: Can Intelligence Agencies Do Good?” at the London School of Economics. Addressing the audience, he, inter-alia, said: “But for the last 15 months, Kashmir was never mentioned by Pakistan or in Pakistan…Now it has been raised again because of the mess we have created in Kashmir in the last 15 months, so Pakistan is back in business…The killings of youth and security personnel in the violence that has erupted in the region (are) ‘unfortunate’…‘Heavy-handedness’ was not the answer. One message that comes out of Kashmir is that a lot can be achieved with love and compassion but never by force. And, I think that is the mistake we have made in the last 15 months.”[10]

On November 6, 2019, Dulat again urged the Modi government to not only initiate a dialogue process with the Kashmiri separatists but also with Pakistan. That day, in an interview with Vidya Subrahmaniam, Senior Fellow at The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, Dulat “expressed fears over the spiraling anger in Kashmir and the shape and form it could take once the lockdown is lifted” and urged the Modi Government to “talk and engage with the Kashmiris and with Pakistan before things get out of control.”

He, among other things, also said: “I think Kashmiris have gradually come round to accepting the status quo. All they needed Delhi to talk about, and that is a term I repeatedly use, was not even autonomy, it was accommodation. The Kashmiri expects that if he is treated as part of the country, he should be treated like the rest of India. Why is he treated differently? That is the issue or that was the issue: ‘Ultimately we are going to get nothing. So let’s have peace with honour, dignity, justice.’ Those were the things that Delhi needed to talk about. Now everything is upside down. Now we have to see what will happen. But I anticipate that on the question of statehood, there would be some protests, here, there, and in courts, etc. If Delhi were to look at Kashmir a little more sympathetically, this would be a good way out. You’ve removed Ladakh and made it into a Union Territory, all right. You thought that was the best way to deal with the state. If that be so, J&K could remain a state.”

Not just this, responding to Vidya Subrahmaniam’s questions “What was the point of turning J&K into a UT?”, “Why could it not have remained a state?” and “Is it to keep the police under Delhi’s control?”, Dulat said: “This is to keep clipping their (Kashmiris) wings. Actually, there’s been a feeling (in sections of Kashmir) that it has always been a Union Territory since Sheikh’s (Sheikh Abdullah, former Chief Minister of J&K and a member of the Constituent Assembly of India) arrest in August 1953.”[11]

On December 20, 2022, Dulat gave a very lengthy interview with Karan Thapar of The Wire. During the interview, he, inter-alia, said: “Let me take you (Karan Thapar) back to where it (Kashmir problem) actually all starts and this is part of the narrative that you’ll hear all the time in Kashmir. It goes back to Sheikh Abdullah’s arrest in August 1953, and, you know, there was a Foreign Secretary, the last one that Jawaharlal Nehru had, who continued as Foreign Secretary in (Lal Bahadur) Shastri’s time, YD Gundevia. In his memoir, I think it’s called Outside the Archives, Gundevia says, ‘Democracy died the day Sheikh was arrested. Democracy in Kashmir died the day Sheikh was arrested…’ Now, I come to Kashmiriyat. Well you know when I say a change of Kashmiriyat on the ground, let me just give you a simple quote. There is a Kashmiri Pandit and a renowned trade union leader (most probably Sampat Prakash) who came to meet me, and I asked him, ‘Is Kashmiriyat dead? Is it finished?’ He said, ‘No, it’s wounded and it’s our duty to revive it.’ Kashmiriyat basically meant that there was no difference between the Pandit and the Mussalmaan and they lived together…He (Kashmiri Muslim) craves peace, he wants peace, he wants out, and his real fear is that gradually, one day, the Kashmiri might be reduced to a minority in his own land, in his own country. That’s the way he perceives it and we do from time to time, unfortunately, add fuel to the fire by talking of demographic changes…Why do it? It was the same way. Why remove 370? There was nothing in 370. And incidentally bringing about a demographic change is not so easy where you have 95% of the population or 98% now is Muslim. How will you change it? And every time you try and change it…The Kashmiri now feels, or particularly, since 2019 and what’s been happening there, that there is no expectation left from Delhi, and it’s a sad story. It’s a very sad story. And talking of kids going to school, who used to take great pride in carrying these paper national flags and singing the national anthem on Independence Day, on Republic Day. It doesn’t happen anymore, and it’s become an issue. Why do we need to carry these flags?’ I’ll tell you what is happening and how it has happened, because, in the Kashmiri mind, there is no expectation left. We are finished. The India that we knew doesn’t exist. In fact, when 2019 also happened one of the questions that the Kashmiris asked, they said, ‘We’ve always had problems with Delhi, but why have the people of India turned against us?’ This is new. So in that way, the same way, we are defeating the idea of India and that is why Mehbooba says from time to time that there’ll be nobody left to hoist the national flag…I don’t want to put the blame on any particular person, but what Mr Amit Shah goes and says in Kashmir is not as welcome as what (Home Minister Sushil Kumar) Shinde Sahab used to say…Well, he (Amit Shah) said we are willing to talk to the Kashmiri youth, but we won’t talk to Pakistan. Now that doesn’t go down well in Kashmir. What is the need to say that? Like the Kashmiris would once say that, ‘If we are prepared,’ I’m talking about the separatists, ‘If we are prepared to talk to Delhi why rub it in that it must be within the Constitution? If your Deputy Prime Minister or the Home Minister of India is talking to us, obviously it is going to be within the Constitution. Why do you, why do you want to rub these things into us?’ So why go to Srinagar, say it in Delhi, that we don’t want to talk to Pakistan, we won’t talk to Pakistan…Sensitivity is missing today. Unfortunately, it is missing and the Kashmiri still remembers Vajpayee’s ‘Insaaniyat, Kashmiriyat, and Jamuriyat’, and he keeps repeating that. But it is the same party, but (now) it’s of a different time and a different view as well…”[12]

Again, on June 18, 2023, Dulat batted for Pakistan and Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. He, among other things, said: “India should respond positively to Pakistan’s overtures…The separatism in Kashmir is ‘dead’ but there is a need to start a dialogue with mainstream political parties in the Valley…Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who has been under house arrest since August 4, 2019, has a role in Kashmir politics. ‘There is a leader who I feel has a role and that is Mirwaiz, but he has been kept in his house. So, we will only know when he comes out. He has been mainstream and whenever he is allowed to come out, and I think it should be done as quickly as possible, then we will see which way he goes…’Dialogue, talking, is the way out. If not to the separatists, talk to the mainstream, have elections, and restore the statehood…The Congress-led UPA in 2005 made a blunder by not allowing PDP founder (pro-self-rule and pro-Pakistan) Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to continue as Chief Minister of J&K. In 2002, Mufti Sahib became the Chief Minister. I think his three years were very good. I used to think that the Congress committed a blunder by removing Mufti Sahib (and making Ghulam Nabi Azad the Chief Minister). So, these things happen, this is politics. It is for the party in power to decide…”[13]

What Dulat said and suggested from time to time was self-explanatory. Hence, no further reflection. Suffice it to say that it’s easy to fight the enemies outside but it’s very difficult to fight persons like Dulat. And, it’s a very serious problem.

Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.

References: –

[1] Centre, Omar’s credibility at stake, J-K statehood must be restored soon: ex-RAW chief Dulat – Jan 26, 2025, National Herald,

[2] A democratic govt has to return in J&K, early – Feb 24, 2015, The Tribune

[3] Mahajan, Hari Om, What exactly does Mehbooba Mufti want? What will she gain out of this drift? – Feb 23, 2016, Swarajyamag

[4] No one misses political import of Mehbooba Mufti’s speech (News Analysis) – Feb 1, 2016, Business Standard

[5] Mehbooba Mufti takes over Jammu & Kashmir reins today – Apr 4, 2016, The Indian Express

[6] Mehbooba Mufti: Kashmir’s first woman chief minister – Apr 4, 2016, BBC

[7] Valley’s song of sorrow – Aug 24, 2016, The Tribune

[8] Former RAW chief A S Dulat: We refused to talk… invited Pakistan back into Valley – May 3, 2017, Indian Express

[9] Pak long gone out of Kashmir equation: Dulat Oct 08, 2017, The Tribune

[10] Saddest story in Kashmir is Farooq, who was once promised the Vice-Presidentship: A. S. Dulat – Aug 27, 2019, The Hindu Centre For Politics and Public Policy

[11] Full Text: A.S. Dulat on Ajit Doval’s Ambition, Modi Govt’s Missing Sensitivity on Kashmir and More – Dec 20, 2022, The Wire

[12] Separatism in Kashmir is dead, need to start…Former spymaster AS Dulat – Jun 18, 2023, NDTV

[13] J&K: ‘Separatism is dead now in Kashmir’, says former RAW chief AS Dulat – Jun 18, 2023, India TV

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