Statehood restoration to J&K in Delhi’s interest: AS Dulat

SRINAGAR — India’s former Intelligence chief AS Dulat said that restoration of statehood to Jammu Kashmir is in the immediate interest of the Government of India. He said the longer Delhi takes to grant the statehood, the worse it will be for its credibility.

“There is an elected government in Jammu and Kashmir with a sweeping mandate. There is a dire need to restore the people’s faith and restore the statehood without any delay,” Dulat said.

He also said that Omar Abdullah would face an embarrassing situation If Delhi backtracked on statehood but that would also not be good for New Delhi.

Dulat said Omar Abdullah is very understandable, very kind, and the one who wasted no time in meeting the PM and HM in New Delhi after assuming the charge. “If it would have been Farooq Abdullah, he would have never gone so immediately to Delhi, unless he would have got some signal from there. Let us not forget that Omar Abdullah wants a cordial relationship with New Delhi,” he said and reiterated that statehood to Jammu Kashmir should be restored immediately.

In response to a question, AS Dulat said that muscular policy doesn’t work for a long time. He said engaging with people instead of pursuing an iron fist policy always bears fruitful results.

“The Government of India should decide whether the muscular policy or the engagement policy will solve the Kashmir problem. We should not forget that past Delhi governments led by Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh pursued humanistic approaches. They were more empathetic. Advani had two rounds of talks with the Hurriyat leaders in Srinagar. Kashmiris notice everything and are now keenly aware of the lack of empathy in current policies,” he added.

To a question, Dulat said that the abrogation of Article 370 episode in 2019 has not gone out of Kashmiris’ minds and it’s a very unpopular decision and remains deeply ingrained in the minds of Kashmiris.

Elected government in J&K should not be undermined: Dulat

AS Dulat also questioned the functioning of the LG administration in Jammu and Kashmir, stating that he is surprised at why the LG is calling the meetings of bureaucrats when there is an elected government.

Dulat said this precedence is bad enough and it reminds him of Arvind Kejriwal whose authority was always undermined by the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.

“It’s not the way it should be and it’s not good for Jammu and Kashmir,” Dulat said.

He said it has been seen when Chief Minister Omar Abdullah calls a meeting, the LG also calls the meeting much to the frustration of the executive class.

“It’s an elected government with a sweeping mandate. Let it function democratically and smoothly,” Dulat added.