Don't stop dialogue with Pakistan says former RAW chief

[Zarvan]

Armymen take position during an encounter with armed attackers at a police station Punjab's Gurdaspur district on Monday.






I spoke to someone in Punjab after the attack and he said that on the face of it Lashkar-e-Taiba seems to be behind this. The signs were there for some time. Not just in Punjab, but in the Kashmir Valley as well of something being planned. The first reaction in such attacks is to blame Pakistan. Whenever Pakistan and India move forward, there are spoilers.

Gurdaspur and Kashmir are linked. Monday's attack should not be seen in isolation. We have been managing Kashmir. When you manage something, things can go out of control. There is frustration in Kashmir. There is frustration in Punjab as well.Let's face it. Terrorism is not going to go away. There is only one way out of all this: engagement. We should never stop talking. Unless you settle Kashmir, problem with Pakistan will continue. So even if such incidences of terror occur, and they will from time to time, don't stop the dialogue with Pakistan.




The BJP is in power both in Punjab and in the Kashmir Valley. But there should not be a feeling about the coalition partners in the state that they are not taken that seriously in New Delhi. I am no one to say this, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed over in New Delhi for a cup of tea every once in a while.

With the Akalis, the BJP has been in business for much longer. But there is some problem there also. Don't forget how we sold peace through sustained dialogue. Using money to win people over is perhaps the most effective tool at the disposal of the intelligence officers not just in Kashmir but everywhere else. Most agents are paid agents. If in Kashmir, for instance, you find someone who is working for the ISI, you just offer a lot more money than it does. Perhaps he will be afraid of getting killed by the ISI but at the very least you have neutralised him.

Corrupting a person by giving money is not only a lot more ethical than killing him, but a lot smarter in the long run. And no one has yet come up with a better way of dealing with Kashmir. But the bottom line is dialogue. The only way to move forward is dialogue.

AS Dulat is a former R&AW chief and the author of the book, Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years. (As told to Daipayan Halder)
Don't stop dialogue with Pakistan says former RAW chief : Mail Today, News - India Today
@WebMaster @Horus @Oscar @nair @SpArK @waz @Irfan Baloch @SpArK @GURU DUTT @OrionHunter @ajpirzada @DESERT FIGHTER @Manticore @fatman17 @Arsalan @Abu Zolfiqar and others