Continuing to Congress propaganda, former Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) chief AS Dulat whitewashed the genocide and exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley, stating that the popular perception of the migration of Kashmiri Hindus differed from the reality.
Speaking on Vivek Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files, Dulat said the movie had evoked polarising recollections of those times. He stated that he has not watched the movie and had no plans to do so. “I don’t see propaganda. And it is a propaganda movie,” he said.
When asked about Jagmohan, the governor of Jammu and Kashmir, he stated that while he was governor till August 1989, the environment had altered beyond recognition by the time he returned the following January. “The Kashmir that he came back to after four or five months, it was totally different from the Kashmir he had left. He was quite shaken himself,” he stated.
“When these killings started, he didn’t want the pandits to bear the brunt of it. So once they started leaving, he was quite happy,” Dulat stated implying that when the Kashmiri pandit migration from Kashmir began, Jagmohan was relieved.
“It was a natural reaction. If they are leaving, ‘Good.’ There was no way that we could provide any protection to them because things were so bad,” he further added.
According to Dulat, the pandit migration began immediately after the killings in 1990. The more affluent members of the community proceeded to Delhi, while those who had nowhere else to go resorted to camps established up in Jammu. To soften the blow, Dulat mentioned that Kashmiri Muslims who could afford it also departed for places like Delhi. They returned when the situation appeared to be improving.
Dulat said that many pandits who chose to remain behind were “protected by Muslims.” Also, he claimed that the pandits too stayed behind in the valley.
According to Dulat, if Pandits returned, their neighbours and friends would endeavour to protect them. However, he maintained that establishing distinct colonies for them is the incorrect way to go about it. “If you built a separate colony for them, they would be targeted,” he argued.
From extolling ISI to promoting Congress propaganda on Kandahar hijacking: Controversial utterances made by Dulat in past
It is worth noting that Dulat has often been accused of being a dove who supported and furthered Congress propaganda on Kashmir and Pakistan. Back in 2015, Dulat fuelled the Congress propaganda on the Kandahar hijacking of IC-814 in 1999, which led to the release of three terrorists, including JeM chief Masood Azhar, alleging that it was “goof up” on India’s part to not have immobilised the aeroplane when it was grounded in Amritsar.
This assertion is a part of the Congress propaganda to malign the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, which was then at the Centre. Ever since the hijacking took place, the Congress party had been using it to attack the BJP government, notwithstanding numerous terror attacks that took place when Congress was at the Centre, including the ghastly 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in 2008.
Besides, Dulat had also heaped praises on Pakistan’s secret intelligence agency ISI, extolling it to be the world’s best intelligence agency.
