dulat-retracts-on-art-370-row-says-a-media-stunt

Amid a controversy over his new book 'The Chief Minister and the Spy', former RAW chief Amarjit Singh Dulat, on Thursday dismissed claims that former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah supported the abrogation of Article 370, stressing that the leader was deeply pained by the move and was never taken into confidence by the Centre.

Dulat is a former IPS officer who served both the Intelligence Bureau and RAW and has long experience of working in Kashmir. 

 

When asked by a news agency if his friendship with Abdullah had been affected, Dulat said, "Friendships don’t break over a few careless words. This book isn’t about Article 370 – it’s a tribute to Farooq Abdullah, the great man."

"I am confident that he will definitely attend the book launch tomorrow. If he does not come, it will be his own decision, but I had spoken to him about 10-15 days ago, and he had said that he would come", Dulat said. 

The former RAW Chief recalled that when Article 370 was abrogated, Dr Sahab (Farooq Abdullah) was heartbroken over what had happened to them.

"It's well known that Farooq Sahib has said multiple times that he has stood with Delhi and always has---but it is Delhi that has not been able to understand Dr Sahab. The fault does not lie with Farooq, it lies with Delhi for failing to understand him," AS Dulat said. 

 

Further, when asked whether the National Conference Chief's claims backing the abrogation of Article 370 are true, Dulat said that Farooq never supported them.

"Two days before the abrogation was announced, Dr Sahab, Omar Abdullah, and one of their MPs had met with Prime Minister. I don't know what was discussed there. I even asked them, but I was not told anything. Afterwards, Farooq Sahab had told me that if the government wanted to do this, they should have taken us into confidence. But instead, we were put under house arrest. He has never supported the abrogation of Article 370," Dulat said.

Nowhere in the book have I written that Farooq supported Article 370. That is non-sense and just a media stunt. No one supported abrogation, but the manner in which it was done could have been different--through dialogue," Dulat added.

The former RAW chief asserted that his book is an appreciation of Farooq Abdullah, not a critique. "If someone is saying that I have pulled a cheap stunt to sell my book, that's fine ...I have no objection", Dulat said.