AS Dulat, Asad Durrani and Aditya Sinha (2018), Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace, New Delhi:Harper Collins India.
Jay Maniyar
Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusions of Peace is a book that comprises a series of discussions that took place between the former chiefs of the most regionally-influential intelligence agencies of the two sparring and eternal rivals, the Republic of India and its relatively-inferior nemesis – the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. India is a South Asian hegemon in no uncertain terms with aspirations to someday emerge as an extra-regional and eventually a global hegemon, while Pakistan remains a troublesome if not repulsive ‘rival’. The term ‘rival’ is often bandied about in regional and global media/seminars to describe Pakistan’s locus standii vis-à-vis India, but it may not do justice to the latter’s overwhelmingly superior and improving demeanour.
The former heads of the Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan, or the ISI, and the Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) of the Government of India deliberate upon issues that have and continue to plague the dynamics of the Indian subcontinent. A seasoned journalist assumes the role of the chief arbitrator of the seemingly aimless conversations between the two luminaries. The book claims that the ‘bilateral’ talks central to the book took place in numerous neutral locations far away from the noisy metropolis’ that gloss over the Indian subcontinent and these cities acted as conduits for the end product of the tête-à-têtes i.e. the book – Spy Chronicles. The three patrons at the centre of the storm are former ISI chief General Asad Durrani, former R&AW protagonist, A S Dulat, and the journalist stewing the broth between the two of them –Aditya Sinha from Delhi. The book also features two sets of noteworthy photos from bygone Indian and Pakistani dealings in various diplomatic fora.
The book covers a series of prickly issues between India and Pakistan. The Mumbai massacre of 26/11 features prominently in Spy Chronicles with references to the Pakistan-based masterminds of the ghastly attacks, as do other attacks on Indian soil that aroused public fury in the world’s largest democracy. A country-based analysis vis-à-vis India, Pakistan and powers such as Russia which, of late, have displayed an inclination to the state-sponsor of terrorism, adds some necessary perspectives to the book and enriches its overall appeal. The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government’s (led by the present R&AW chief, Ajit Doval) surgical strikes of 2016 find deserved mention, while the kidnapped R&AW agent Kulbushan Jadhav, too, is discussed.
Seven sections and thirty-three chapters notwithstanding, the book amasses over three hundred pages worth of dialogue between the three, with Aditya Sinha an all-too-eager contributor himself. The book, Spy Chronicles, is relatively new with it having been published recently by the reputed Harper Collins (India office). Priced at INR 799, Spy Chronicles is only for the most indulgent as it does not attempt to offer any insights into the hyper-competitive turf of espionage.
The book also seems to convey an impression that the solutions to the India-Pakistan logjam are few and too simplistic, such as improved visa regimes (despite a record increase in mere ‘incidences’ of terror against and in India since 2014, from across the border) and the quintessential people-to-people talks meant to foster Track-II amenability. The truth is that, following the impetus given to state-sponsored terrorism emanating from Pakistan, there may be no avenues remaining to reinvigorate the India-Pakistan relationship. In fact, the ‘relationship’ that took shape since 1947 has always been a hostile one with the four major conflicts witnessed in 1947, 1965, 1971, and 1999, and everyday skirmishes a damning proof of the same.
As is witnessed in perpetually-raucous television debates that have become a staple in the mainstream media in South Asia since the advent of the television and its becoming a mainstay for the masses, the giveaways between the two leaderships remain spiteful with the former Director-General of the ISI definitively casting aside Indian readiness to extract and exact revenge from the likes of avowed terrorists such as Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and Maulana Masood Azhar from the ‘Land of the Pure’. The references to the Pakistani ‘deep state’ do not go amiss. An entire chapter is dedicated to the well-known prowess of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence or the ISI. Contentious issues find mention in the discussions with 26/11, Pakistan’s (ongoing) captivity of Indian intelligence officer Kulbushan Jadhav, and the restive Pakistani ‘province’ of Balochistan all figuring in the form of individual chapters. Despite this, a tone of cordiality is strewn all over the dealings between the two spearheads, and the two gentlemen even appear to portray a long-lasting friendship as is made evident in the opening chapter of the recorded discussions.
To conclude, the book finds itself stuck between portraying itself to be an incredible read because of the distinct and collective acumen on offer by two veterans of the South Asian national security entanglement and an utterly pointless experiment aimed at stringing together ‘thought-speak’ in the garb of an informative and a rather pricey book. Such a conspicuous polarity may not play too well in the minds of an informed reader and, hence, Spy Chronicles is best devoured with the proverbial ‘pinch of salt’, or more than a few pinches in the case of this rather avoidable textual deformity.
