Farooq may respond if govt reaches out, says Ex-RAW chief AS Dulat

Former chief minister Farooq Abdullah, released on Friday after seven months in detention on , may respond to overtures if the government reaches out to him, AS Dulat, the former chief of India’s spy agency, has said.

Dulat, who headed the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) from 1999 to 2000, met Abdullah on February 12 in an interaction that was cleared by the Union government, and one that National Security Adviser AK Doval was fully aware of, Dulat said in an interview with Karan Thapar published on the website The Wire on Saturday.

He added that the meeting was facilitated by the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

Hindustan Times first reported on February 27 that the government sent Dulat on a top secret mission to Srinagar, to meet the former CM and suss out his mood after the nullification of Article 370 in August last year.

When asked about the meeting, Dulat had told HT: “No comments. If the officials and family have told you so, I have nothing more to say.” Speaking about his meeting, Dulat told The Wire that Farooq Abdullah was particularly concerned about the use of the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) against his son and former chief minister Omar Abdullah, and former CM Mehbooba Mufti.

Dulat said in the interview that Farooq Abdullah also expressed concern about the impact of the nullification of Article 370 and all the subsequent developments in Kashmir on his grandchildren. He said he himself was fully committed to India and had brought up his children in the same way. But now he did not know how to answer questions his grandchildren may ask.

“His basic concern was that so many people are locked down and he was a little disturbed on the PSA that was slapped on Omar and Mehbooba,” Dulat said in interview. “He did say that I’d like to come to Delhi and I’d like to speak in Parliament,” he added.

Also read- ‘No cause for celebrations’: Local residents indifferent to Farooq’s release

Dulat said his meeting with Farooq lasted for an hour during which time he also met his wife, Molly, and daughter, Safia.

In another revelation, Dulat said that the Narendra Modi government tried to form a government with the Abdullahs and National Conference (NC) after the 2015 state elections before choosing Mufti’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a partner. Farooq was in London and in hospital at the time, and the government sent an emissary to meet him. The emissary was then referred to Omar, Dulat said

Speaking about the situation in Kashmir, Dulat said that the situation in Srinagar was “normal”. He said shops were open and there were traffic jams in all the places you would expect to have them. Dulat said that after his first two attempts to check with authorities in Delhi about visiting Farooq did not elicit a response, three days later a person in the government said “who can stop you if you want to go?”

Dulat said that people of Kashmir were still in shock after the nullification of Article 370, which gave special status to the state; he ascribed this as one the reasons why there had not been widespread popular protests, and presence of security forces as the other. He added that he believes at least 50 foreigners (Pakistanis, Afghans, Arabs, Turks) crossed the Line of Control three or four months ago, and then seemed to have disappeared, and described it as worrying. He said, however, that he would tell the government to start talking to Pakistan.

Also read- ‘I am free today,’ says Farooq Abdullah after release from 7-month long detention