The Chief Minister And The Spy

When the powers that be in Delhi think of Farooq Abdullah, they think of former R&AW chief A.S. Dulat, too. The Abdullah–Dulat connection – unlikely, even dangerous – has shaped Kashmir’s history in ways that few understand. One was India’s top intelligence officer, the other its most defiant Kashmiri leader. They should have been enemies. Instead, they built a quiet, complicated alliance that has outlasted governments, betrayals and shadow wars. From the explosion of militancy in the 1990s to the hijacking of Air India’s IC-814 in 1999 and the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, their story is inseparable from Kashmir’s most turbulent moments. In this book, for the first time, Dulat turns to the man behind the legend. What is Farooq like when the cameras are off?