Former ISI chief Muhammad Asad Durrani has heaped praise on former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, News18 has reported. These snippets are part of a book titled The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace, which records conversations between Durrani and former RAW chief AS Dulat.
As reported, Dulat was quoted as praising PM Modi for doing more in his first two years for India-Pakistan relations than what his predecessor Manmohan Singh managed during his time.
During the exchange Durrani claimed that Modi was likely to get a second term and after switching his attention to Vajpayee stated that:
We would be happy if someone like Vajpayee was Prime Minister in Pakistan. Poet, philosopher, he could have been a good Prime Minister for us
Besides this, Durrani has also been quoted as claiming that Doval has made India’s Pak policy more hardline, and even indirectly acknowledged Pakistan’s role in Kashmiri insurgency. When asked about the biggest failure of the ISI, he was quoted as lamenting about the shape which the Hurryat took after its formation.
The announcement of the book though wasn’t without its controversy. The fact that spies belonging to two different countries, who have a long history of enmity were sitting down to record a candid on record discussion, puzzled a people who as a result raised questions over the veracity of the book:
AS Dulat and ex ISI chief have come together to collaborate on a book?? Spies are not supposed to write books. They are certainly not supposed to collaborate with rival spy agency.
— Sunanda Vashisht (@sunandavashisht) May 21, 2018
One Foreign Affairs expert blasted the spy agencies over the outlook exhibited in the book:
Whatever little faith I had in IB/ RAW has been shattered by the very first page of AS Dulats book. It’s nauseating in its professions of quest for befriending paks. Worse, if he didn’t know what an Islamofascist SOB abdul sattar was, then we should just disband both IB & RAW
— sushant sareen (@sushantsareen) May 21, 2018
It remains to be seen as to how is the book received after its released, especially by the Pakistani government.
