New Delhi: Former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief, retired Lt Gen Asad Durrani, was Friday found guilty of violating Pakistan’s military code of conduct and has been stripped of his pension, allowances and other benefits.
The strictures come in the wake of Durrani’s comments in the book The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace, published last year in collaboration with India’s former Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) chief A.S. Dulat.
In the book, Durrani spoke frankly about the creation of the Hurriyat, the value of Hafiz Saeed for Pakistan — “the cost of prosecuting him is too great” — and how Osama bin Laden was found in Abbottabad within a few hundred meters of Pakistan’s military academy.
Notably, he added, that after the Burhan Wani killing in 2016, Pakistan realised that “sitting back and doing nothing was not an option.”
“Some schadenfreude (feeling pleased with the adversary’s plight) was understandable, but after Uri and the so-called surgical strike, we realized that sitting back and doing nothing was not an option. We would inevitably get involved,” Durrani said in the book.
Durrani was put on the no-fly list soon after the publication of the book in May 2018, and an inquiry was started.
On Friday, Pakistani army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor, briefing the media on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s determination to retaliate for the attack in Pulwama, said Pakistan was ready for any eventuality. “Don’t mess with Pakistan,” Ghafoor said.
Towards the end of his briefing Ghafoor added that Durrani had been stripped of his pension benefits, but the Pakistan Army would try and get his name removed from the no-fly list.
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‘Biggest failure’
Durrani, who served as Pakistan’s ISI chief from 1990-92, soon after the Soviets left Afghanistan, in which Pakistan played a key role, was quoted as admitting in Spy Chronicles that the ISI was instrumental in creating the Hurriyat, but was surprised when the Kashmir uprising in 1989 lasted much longer than it did.
“The biggest failure was when the Kashmir uprising happened, we did not know how far it would go,” Durrani said.
“These things usually run their course in six months or a year. When it became lasting, we wondered how to keep a handle on it. We didn’t want it to go out of control, which would lead to war which neither side wanted,” he added.
Dulat pointed out, elsewhere, “The Hurriyat is the Pakistani team…. India has its team, Pakistan has its team, and the Kashmiris are in between.”
In the book, both Durrani and Dulat speak extensively about Kashmir and how to deal with it. Their one phrase advice is to “take what you can get.” Dulat said that this is what Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto told Farooq Abdullah when he went to meet him in 1975.
Durrani agreed with Dulat.
“So this is our recipe: Don’t look at independence, don’t look at Article 370, and don’t look at the LoC… We don’t have to reinvent it. People before us, wiser people, have found a way by starting at the people’s level. Simple movement, a little trade, let them be involved in these matters while Delhi and Islamabad take a backseat,” Durrani said.
किताबें अपनी जगह और देश अपनी जगह है। किताबों में देशों को समेटना आसान नहीं है।
पता नहीं वो कोन महामूर्ख थे जिन्होंने धर्म के नाम पर एक खूबसूरत और हर तरह से मजबूत देश को टुकड़ों में बांटने की योजना बनाई और इस पर अमल किया।उनकी आत्मा को कभी शांति नहीं मिलेगी। उन की वजह से आज के हालात बद से बद्तर हो रहे हैं।
आलोचनाओं के पंखों पर बैठ कर किस हवा के रुख की मदद से उड़ान भरेंगे,! समाधान की जमीन पर उतरना ही पड़ता है ।बस इतना याद रखें और न भूलें,,,,,सब कुछ लुटा के होश में आये तो क्या हुआ!,,,,,,