Ex-RAW chief slams Indian govt over failure to resolve Kashmir conflict

AS Dulat asks why India is afraid to talk about Kashmir with Pakistan

India’s former intelligence chief has slammed Narendra Modi-led government for its failure to anticipate and address the recent uprising in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IOK).

“Let me say that we have invited Pakistan back into the valley. Kashmiris hibernate in winter… That’s the best time to engage Kashmiris. We didn’t… Now children are out on the streets… Modiji had an edge when he came to power. But talks didn’t happen,” AS Dulat, ex-chief of Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s premier spy agency, said Wednesday.

Blaming Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for failing to engage disgruntled Kashmiris, Dulat said leaders in New Delhi think talks are not necessary. “They think they [Kashmiris] have been pampered a lot.” In response to a question if the Indian government was not pampering the Kashmiris because Hindu nationalists in the BJP might not like it, the ex-RAW chief said: “Of course. You know that. I don’t want to go into it,” The Indian Express quoted him as saying.

Talking about the situation in IOK, Dulat said, “The sad part, frightening part and really scary part of Kashmir is that these boys and girls with stones in their hands don’t seem to care what their parents feel.”



“Because of alienation and the anger of youth, young Kashmiri minds have gone out of control. There is a sense of hopelessness. They aren’t afraid to die. Villagers, students and even girls are coming out on the streets. This has never happened in the past,” he added.

Criticising New Delhi for not engaging in a comprehensive dialogue process with Islamabad, the ex-spy master questioned why India was afraid to talk about Kashmir. “They have more explaining to do. I agree Mojidi started well. He surprised all of us by going to Pakistan. The snag here is what happened after it… Our stand that talk and terror can’t go together is also meaningless vis-à-vis Pakistan… We have to talk disregarding incidents here and there.”

Cautioning the Indian government against use of its military in the disputed region, Dulat said Indian Army should be kept away from the valley and all issues should be dealt with by the police and paramilitary forces. “It is the state government that has failed in Kashmir today.”



Anti-India sentiment runs deep in the predominantly Muslim Kashmir valley, where most people favour independence or a merger with Pakistan. An armed rebellion that started in the region in 1989 has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians, dead.

Tensions in IOK were already high before an attack on an Indian army base over the July 8, 2016 death of Burhan Wani, a popular militant leader, with scores of people killed in clashes with security forces since then.

This article originally appeared on The Indian Express.