What's new

Ex-ISI & ex-RAW chiefs release a joint book, The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace

Mian

T20I Debutant
Joined
Oct 25, 2016
Runs
7,014
Ex-ISI & ex-RAW chiefs release a joint book, The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace

ISLAMABAD – In an unprecedented development, former spy chiefs of Pakistan and India have co-authored a book having a plethora of sensational disclosures about the security discourse of South-Asia and other issues of prominence.

The book named ‘The Spy Chronicles: RAW , ISI and the Illusion of Peace’ is written by General Asad Durrani and former chief of Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), A S Dulat and reveals shocking aspects of how the son of Asad Durrani, former Inter-Services Intelligence chief, was released after Indian spy agency RAW intervened in the matter.

It states that in May 2015, Osman Durrani came to Kochi (Indian port) for work on behalf of a German company and according to visa restrictions, he should have left the country from the city that he entered from but his office booked him from a flight back via Mumbai; he was detained by authorities in Mumbai following which 24 hours of backchannel networking helped release of Durrani’s son, despite the visa violation.

Asad Durrani, who is also making headlines in Pakistan due to Asghar Khan case, continues in the book that his family was in a panic because they were unaware of how events would unfold after the detention of his son.

“But even those people (Mumbai special branch) did not grill him about his Bombay visa and did not put him behind bars. That could have happened, but it didn’t,” stated Durrani.

The former spy chief recalled that in the meantime, his family was concerned about the consequences if someone reported that the son of a former ISI chief was roaming around Mumbai, at a time when the Indians hadn’t forgotten 26/11; even then he enlisted the help of Dulat.

“Dulat called several people including then RAW chief Rajinder Khanna. The Indian intelligence establishment sprung into action as Osman was stonewalled. Things however worked out and Osman was able to fly back to Germany after a day from Mumbai,” wrote Durrani.

In the page-turner, Dulat recalls that the most touching part of the incident was that when he called Khanna to thank him for his help, the RAW chief said in reference to Durrani, “It’s our duty, after all, he’s a colleague.”

The book is of pivotal importance especially in the backdrop of how both the neighbours harboured a grudge against each other, however, their spy chiefs were having cordial relations.

The rescue of Osman Durrani was also confirmed by his father in a brief interaction with a leading newspaper.

The book, which will be available in Pakistan soon, also sheds light on the so-called surgical strike of the Indian Army in Azad Kashmir, the arrest of Kalbhushan Jadev, Nawaz Sharif, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Kashmir, Muzaffar Burhan Wani Shaheed and Akhand Bharat plan of India.

Besides narrating the spine-chilling incidents, former Indian RAW chief AS Dulat – who served as the RAW boss from 1999-2000 – has reminded the Indian leadership to address the Kashmir issue first of all. Despite dim hopes, the book has also indicated the possibility of resumption of talks between Pakistan and India in the wake of forthcoming elections in the Muslim-majority nation.

The book is hitting the shelves days after Pakistan and India renewed the Track II diplomacy with an Indian delegation holding talks with a Pakistani team on April 28-30.

Although India claims that the recent efforts for detente did not signify any watering down of New Delhi’s position that terror and talks can’t go together, a senior bureaucrat privately admitted that such a dialogue would surely be at the behest of the government.

The Track II diplomacy is generally called Neemrana Dialogue, named after the fort in Rajasthan where it was first held in 1991, but it is brushed aside by New Delhi, with Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar saying that “…functional exchanges between the two sides have continued and is actually a part of normal process between the two countries. So there is nothing new which we see in this dialogue”.

https://timesofislamabad.com/21-May...t-release-of-former-isi-chief-s-son-in-mumbai
 
‘Roll out the red carpet and invite Gen Bajwa,’ ex-RAW chief urges Indian government

NEW DELHI – Seeking an end to halted peace talks between New Delhi and Islamabad, former chief of India’s top spy agency, A.S. Dulat has urged his government to invited Pakistan’s chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa to re-start the process.

Talking to an Indian news channel, NDTV, together with former ISI chief Lt. Gen. Asad Durrani, the two spymasters from rival countries who co-authored a book, the former head of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) said that radical changes were being witnessed in diplomatic and strategic fields around the globe.

Both former heads appeared on the TV ahead of the release of their joint book — The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace – a writing piece having a plethora of sensational disclosures about the security discourse of South-Asia and other issues of prominence.

Citing recent unexpected change in the attitude of the US towards North Korea, Dulat, who served RAW from 1999-2000, during said: “Who could have thought a few days ago that President Donald Trump would be talking to the North Korean leader? We should also think out of the box, as Dr Manmohan Singh used to say. Roll out the red carpet and invite Gen Bajwa, and see what happens.”

Emphasising on people-to-people contact, both dignitaries called for easing visa process and resumption of cricket between two countries.

Gen Durrani, expressing his view on bilateral relations, said that former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and Yousuf Raza Gilani’s meeting in Sharm el Sheikh had produced a ground-breaking agreement, but it was tarnished by bureaucracies of both countries. “The agreement to have a joint anti-terror mechanism would have been a great achievement for both. Alas, that was not to be.”

The book is set to be launched in Delhi this week, but Durrani will not be able to attend the ceremony as he has not been given a visa by New Delhi so far, the Indian Express reported.

The book, which will be available in Pakistan soon, also sheds light on the so-called surgical strike of the Indian Army in Azad Kashmir, the arrest of Kalbhushan Jadev, Nawaz Sharif, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Kashmir, Muzaffar Burhan Wani Shaheed and Akhand Bharat plan of India.

Besides narrating the spine-chilling incidents, Dulat has reminded the Indian leadership to address the Kashmir issue first of all. Despite dim hopes, the book has also indicated the possibility of resumption of talks between Pakistan and India in the wake of forthcoming elections in the Muslim-majority nation.

The book is hitting the shelves days after Pakistan and India renewed the Track II diplomacy with an Indian delegation holding talks with a Pakistani team on April 28-30.

Although India claims that the recent efforts for detente did not signify any watering down of New Delhi’s position that terror and talks can’t go together, a senior bureaucrat privately admitted that such a dialogue would surely be at the behest of the government.

The Track II diplomacy is generally called Neemrana Dialogue, named after the fort in Rajasthan where it was first held in 1991, but it is brushed aside by New Delhi, with Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar saying that “…functional exchanges between the two sides have continued and is actually a part of normal process between the two countries. So there is nothing new which we see in this dialogue”.

The book also reveals shocking aspects of how the son of Asad Durrani, former Inter-Services Intelligence chief, was released after Indian spy agency RAW intervened in the matter.

https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/pak...ite-gen-bajwa-ex-raw-chief-urges-indian-govt/
 
It's nice to see these senior Indian and Pakistani officers working together... almost makes one forget the hundreds of the not-so-fortunates who are dying every year in the low-level war that exists between these two countries.
 
No one is above Pakistan’s Interest, whether a civilian or a military man.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Lt Gen Asad Durrani, Retired being called in GHQ on 28th May 18. Will be asked to explain his position on views attributed to him in book ‘Spy Chronicles’. Attribution taken as violation of Military Code of Conduct applicable on all serving and retired military personnel.</p>— Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) <a href="https://twitter.com/OfficialDGISPR/status/1000088759063506944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
No one is above Pakistan’s Interest, whether a civilian or a military man.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Lt Gen Asad Durrani, Retired being called in GHQ on 28th May 18. Will be asked to explain his position on views attributed to him in book ‘Spy Chronicles’. Attribution taken as violation of Military Code of Conduct applicable on all serving and retired military personnel.</p>— Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) <a href="https://twitter.com/OfficialDGISPR/status/1000088759063506944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Any controversial thing that he wrote in his book ?
 
Well that is Nawaz's problem not Durrani's. I do not expect Durrani to write any compromising thing in his book like saying that Pakistan was behind Mumbai attacks which Nawaz did.

Just saw someone uploaded 2 pages from the book.

DeER5cnW4AEkloT.jpg:small


DeEU2z9W0AMSdxC.jpg:small
 
They'l just be sharing chest thumping Spider man v Superman type stories. Don't be surprised if some Bollywood movie is made on the subject.
 
Wonder if Durrani now regrets writing this book? Seems to have caused him a lot of unnecessary hassle.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ex-ISI chief Asad Durrani has been interacting with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/India?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#India</a>'s RAW since 2008: defence ministry tells IHC <a href="https://t.co/K1BsiUNv9o">https://t.co/K1BsiUNv9o</a></p>— Dawn.com (@dawn_com) <a href="https://twitter.com/dawn_com/status/1354466162189475850?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 27, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Last edited by a moderator:
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2287442/ihc-orders-removal-of-asad-durranis-name-from-ecl

Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday ordered to remove the name of the former chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt Gen (retd) Asad Durrani.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah issued the verdict after hearing all the sides in the case. According to the top judge, Durrani has the same rights as any other citizen of the country.

The former spy chief landed in trouble after co-authoring a book titled ‘The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace’ with India’s former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief Amarjit Singh Dulat in 2018.

During the hearing, Justice Minallah told Additional Attorney General Tariq Khokhar, “You had said that Durrani’s name is in the ECL because of the ongoing inquiry against him.”

However, he added that according to the record, there is no ongoing inquiry against the ex ISI chief.

“The petitioner is a three-star retired general and served as the former DG ISI,” the court noted.

“He is now a commoner and enjoys all the rights that he is entitled to under the Constitution.”

The judge added that the federal government doesn’t have the powers to put anyone’s name in the ECL.

At this, Khokhar said that the representatives of the defence minister are here and they can issue a statement in this regard.

Justice Minallah responded saying, “there is no need to summon anyone as I’ve seen the record.”

He reiterated that according to the record, there is no ongoing inquiry against Durrani.

“There are no grounds to continue to keep his name in the ECL,” the judge concluded.

After the book’s publication, the Military Intelligence Directorate recommended the interior ministry to place Durrani’s name on the no-fly list.

In May 2018, the ministry issued a notification about putting the former ISI chief’s name on the ECL and said that Durrani is “involved in an ongoing inquiry”, thus he could not leave the country.

The ministry’s notification came a day after the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the former spy chief would be probed by a Court of Inquiry for views attributed to him in his book.
 
Indian agents working for the notorious Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) feel dejected and abandoned by their parent spy agency, forcing them to live the rest of their lives in squalid conditions.

For people like Daniel, who served a four-year sentence in Pakistan, life has become miserable as now he has to drive a rickshaw while his wife works as a maid washing dishes, to earn some livelihood, an Indian news channel Pro Punjab said.

In an interview, Daniel, a Christian, who lives in an Indian Punjab village bordering Sialkot and Narowal area, claimed that he worked for his country’s spy agency RAW, on lucrative promises of money and a government job, and was smuggled into Pakistan in 1992 to carry out the dirty work.

Also read: Modi under fire as heroin worth $3b recovered from friend’s port

“We used to feel very proud while working for RAW,” he said to a question, however, felt disheartened that his agency had abandoned him.

Daniel said he travelled back and forth across the border 10 times in a year, till he got caught in 1993 in Lahore. When questioned about his arrest, he said he did not utter a single word about being tasked by RAW to gather information from Pakistan, during the tough interrogation.

He said they were told to pose as smugglers or act like someone who crossed over to the other side by mistake. He said he was shifted from various jails and eventually released from Kot Lakhpat jail Lahore.

The former spy went on to say that in one of his earlier ventures into Pakistan, he barely escaped arrest and hid under a culvert as a Rangers team patrolled the area. ”We hid there for over an hour till it was clear to move in the dark.”



About the tasks assigned to him, he said he was asked to gather information about the location of various army units, their movement and said at times he was tasked to make friendly contacts with Pakistani working or retired military personnel and try to get any type of information.

Daniel said he and his other fellow agents also used to lure some Pakistanis to work for RAW and in those days since only the Indian side was fenced they faced no problem in smuggling people, as the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) always facilitated them.

Also read: Indian army accused of secretly filming women, children in IIOJK

He said after infiltrating into Pakistan they used to stay with their contact Lala Bashir in village Ali Abad near the Jassar railway station, from where they used to move to selected areas. He said they were also tasked to carry huge amounts of “PC”‘ – Pakistani Currency – to be used for subversive activities through RAW’s sleeper agents.

He said that when they returned to India the BSF allowed them entry when they used code words. He said at times he was given the code word of “kalakar” and no one questioned as they knew that he worked for RAW.

Describing his experience of Pakistani people, he termed them very warm and friendly and said they shared the gifts brought to them by their family members in jail and treated them well.

However, years after his return to India, Daniel said no one bothered about the welfare of the people who risked their lives. He said he met local politicians including Pratap Singh Bajwa who was earlier a Member of the Legislative Assembly and asked them for some relief but to no avail.

The former RAW agent also said he had agreed to work for the spy agency as they promised good money, but at the end of the day, they paid him only Rs15,000 when he contacted the RAW office and got his signatures on a blank paper, and told him that it was the sanctioned amount for him. He regretted that he was neither paid the money he was promised nor compensated in any other way. During his jail term in Pakistan, his mother got a payment of a paltry Rs500 per month.

He recalled that he and another agent – ‘Channa’ who spent 18 years in Pakistani jail were also taken to New Delhi and asked to carry out bomb explosions in Pakistan. He said when they demanded Rs5 million in payment, they got no response.

“I feel abandoned and used,” he said and hoped that if he gets some money at least he could build a home and live a decent life, or get a job for his elder son.”

The story told by Daniel to the Indian channel is not the story of any single individual who got ditched. There are hundreds of other people who have been abandoned after being used. Similar stories can be heard from the Indian military personnel who work under deplorable conditions, with poor food, medical or other facilities, while in service or even after retirement.

Daniel, along with his wife now lives in a shabby single-room rented home and still has a faded picture on one of the walls; one where he is seen in a Pakistani jail, in shackles, as the only memoir of his past life.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2321560/raw-agent-who-spied-on-pakistan-lives-a-miserable-life-in-india
 
Will they lære allowed to live in peace after openly revealing what they did in Pakistan on orders from RAW?
 
Back
Top