No State Secrets in the Book: AS Dulat on ‘The Spy Chronicles’ Row

Pakistan's powerful spy agency ISI's former chief Lt Gen (retd) Asad Durrani has been banned from leaving the country and will face a Court of Inquiry over a controversial book ‘The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace’ he recently co-authored with India's former RAW chief Amardeep Singh Dulat, PTI reported.

Durrani headed the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency from August 1990 till March 1992, along with Dulat.

The two former spy chiefs have touched upon in the book some thorny issues including terrorism, particularly Mumbai attack, Kashmir and the influence of intelligence agencies.

Expressing his disappointment over the way Durrani was being treated in Pakistan, Dulat said that there are no state secrets mentioned in the book and that this is not the first time these things have been spoken about.

For this to happen to him, I don’t know how Pakistan thinks and what the problem is. He said nothing new – whether on Osama or Kargil, his views are well known and he has been critical.

AS Dulat, Former RAW Chief

Further saying that Durrani has spoken to various media houses in the past expressing his views on the same issues, the book is just a perception of a “very old man” who retired from the service a long time ago.

“At one stage he says in the book that possibly they made a mistake in supporting Amanullah Khan only because he was pro Independence. If Pakistan takes exception to that then it should tell the Kashmiris that they are opposed to Independence, which they are,” said Dulat.

Dulat further said that the book was about peace and propagated dialogue between the two nations.

If you read the book, it is about hope and peace. And it is written in the hope that India and Pakistan relations will improve and this permanent madness between the two countries will end. That is what the book is about.

AS Dulat, Former RAW Chief

Hoping that Durrani wasn’t in trouble due to anything that he had contributed to the book, Dulat said that he does not understand Pakistan’s problem with it.

There are no state secrets in it. It’s a book written in right earnest, in the most transparent manner, in the presence of a third person who has recorded it with no hidden agenda. I don’t know what problem Pakistan has with it. 

AS Dulat, Former RAW Chief

Durrani was summoned to the General Headquarters (GHQ) on Monday, 28 May, to explain his position on the book, said a statement issued today by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) - the Pakistan military's media wing, PTI reported.

Durrani has expressed dismay at his "own people" after facing severe backlash over the book. He was also targeted by some retired senior army officers on different TV talk shows.

In the book, Durrani has revealed that track-II diplomacy was in place since long aimed at averting war between the two nuclear-armed neigbours.

(With inputs from ANI and PTI)