Burhan Wani was an icon, says ex-RAW chief

[Devil Soul]

Burhan Wani was an icon, says ex-RAW chief
By News Desk
Published: August 29, 2016
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AS Dulat says anger has been simmering for a long time and it just needed a spark. A file photo of Burhan Wani.

India’s former spymaster has said that a Kashmiri separatist killed by Indian security forces last month was an ‘icon for the people’ of Kashmir.

Burhan Wani, was killed by Indian security forces in an alleged gunfight on July 8. New Delhi called Wani a terrorist of the Hizbul Mujahideen and rebuked Pakistan for ‘supporting a terrorist.’

How Burhan Wani represents a new wave of anger in Kashmir

“You may call him a terrorist, but you can’t ignore that he was some sort of an icon for the people there,” AS Dulat, a former head of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), told The Economic Times in an interview. “He was different. He was popular. So, when he got killed, it created the situation for the flood of anger to come out,” Dulat added.

Wani’s killing has triggered an outrage in the disputed valley. India responded with a brute force to quell the widespread protests. Surprisingly, New Delhi blamed Pakistan for fuelling the unrest.

Dulat doesn’t agree. “There has been anger simmering for a long time and we [India] did not take cognisance of it. That anger just needed a spark, and Burhan Wani did that,” said Dulat, who was also adviser on Kashmir in the government of prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Pakistan condemns India’s killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander in occupied Kashmir

“As an intelligence officer, I would have tried to bring him overground. Many militants in the past had a new life overground,” said Dulat who had revealed in a 2015 interview that RAW had been bankrolling Kashmiri separatists.

Pakistan has invited India for exclusive talks on Kashmir, but India turned down the offer. “The worst situation is when you don’t talk either with Pakistan or with Kashmiris. So, we must talk with Kashmiris and we must talk to Pakistan.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29th, 2016.

 

[T90TankGuy]

He is right !!!
this kid was some sort of an icon for a lot of the people who are out on the streets today , (how ever misguided )
the trigger many told me was not his killing but the fact it was the gloating which followed after his death. Many of a COIN commanders frowned upon publicizing the fact , many i talked to said he should have been killed quietly and buried, by making this a three ringed circus the media stroked a lot of anger within the people of Kashmir who looked upon it as an "them vs us" issue and came out on the streets.
This process was followed of quietly killing them and burying their bodies during the 90s , was highly successful in controlling the problem of militancy during its heights. Another tactic which was used to good effect was to buy these militants off , one which A S Daulat did a lot and illustrated so in his book . but these solutions were not employed by the RR this time .
today after a long time has kashmir started to limp back to normal , curfew has been lifted in many areas , hopefully things will improve now.

@Joe Shearer your thoughts? also remember what we discussed about a meeting behind closed doors at the farm house in Delhi? seems a co incidence that a week later the curfew has been lifted