Centre, Omar’s credibility at stake, J&K statehood must be restored soon: ex-RAW chief AS Dulat

Kozhikode, Jan 26 (PTI) Former RAW chief AS Dulat cautioned that the “happiness” of Kashmiris following the elections in 2024 is “temporary”, and as they await the fulfilment of the promise of J-K’s statehood, the credibility of both Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and the Centre is on the line.

Dulat on Saturday said that 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 Jammu and Kashmir’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,” said Dulat who headed the external intelligence agency during 1999-2000.

He was speaking here at the ongoing Kerala Literature Festival (KLF) about his autobiography, “A Life in the Shadows: A Memoir”, published by HarperCollins India.

The 85-year-old expressed his concern that the restoration of statehood to J-K, which he believed should have been granted immediately after the elections, is unlikely to happen any time soon.

“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,” he added.

The Narendra Modi-led government had abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, in August 2019 and the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two Union Territories — Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

He warned that 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, he said.

“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, 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’,” he explained.

Dulat added that what J-K is experiencing today is a “diarchy,” with two parallel governments in operation — one led by Omar Abdullah and the other by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.

Acknowledging that Kashmir taught him everything he knows about intelligence, Dulat, co-author of “Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years,” emphasized that Delhi must recognize the region’s complexity.

He underscored that 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,” he concluded.

The KLF, which kicked off on January 23, is hosting around 500 speakers from 15 countries. The event has drawn a large crowd of book lovers to Kozhikode beach, where they are attending engaging sessions by renowned authors, actors, artists, historians, activists and more.

Nobel laureates Venki Ramakrishnan and Esther Duflo, Booker prize winner Irish novelist Paul Lynch, actors Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah and Prakash Raj, filmmaker Mani Ratnam, award-winning author-poet Perumal Murugan and politician-author Shashi Tharoor are among the speakers participating in the festival, touted to be Asia’s largest literature festival.

Over six lakh visitors are expected to attend the four-day literary festival that concludes on Sunday.