The Vice President of India M. Hamid Ansari released a book entitled “Kashmir The Vajpayee Years” authored by Shri A.S. Dulat, former Head of R&AW with Shri Aditya Sinha, Senior Journalist at a function here today. Addressing on the occasion, the Vice President said that an occasion like this is rare and it does signal health rather than ill health of the Republic.He said that since times immemorial, imperatives of statecraft have necessitated resort to intelligence operations and the use of intelligence agents. Kautilya has a full section on the requirements of the craft. Nizam-ul Mulk in the 11th century spelt it out with great precision.
The king, he wrote, must “inevitably have postmasters” adding that ‘this is a delicate business involving some unpleasantness; it must be entrusted to the hands and tongues and pens of men who are completely above suspicion and without self-interest, for the weal or woe of the country depend on them.’ The Vice President opined that for this reason if for no other, the rendition of happenings by Shri Dulat, as he perceived them, is to be welcomed. The contents speak for themselves; the gaps and asides are suggestive and reveal much to the initiated. The subject remains on the front burner. He felicitated Shri Dulat for daring so wade into these choppy waters. In this book , Shri A.S. Dulat gives a sweeping account of the difficulties, successes and near triumphs in the effort to bring back Kashmir from the brink. The Authors have shown the players, the politics, the strategies and the true intent and sheer ruthlessness of the meddlers from across the border.