Spy Chronicles

Pointing to the horizon where the sea and sky are joined he says It is only an illusion because they cant really meet but isnt it beautiful this union which isnt really there. SAADAT HASAN MANTO Sometime in 2016 a series of dialogues took place which set out to find a meeting ground even if only an illusion between A.S. Dulat and Asad Durrani. One was a former chief of RAW Indias external intelligence agency the other of ISI its Pakistani counterpart. As they could not meet in their home countries the conversations guided by journalist Aditya Sinha took place in cities like Istanbul Bangkok and Kathmandu.On the table were subjects that have long haunted South Asia flashpoints that take lives regularly. It was in all ways a deep dive into the politics of the subcontinent as seen through the eyes of two spymasters. Among the subjects Kashmir and a missed opportunity for peace Hafiz Saeed and 2611 Kulbhushan Jadhav surgical strikes the deal for Osama bin Laden how the US and Russia feature in the IndiaPakistan relationship and how terror undermines the two countries attempts at talks.When the project was first mooted General Durrani laughed and said nobody would believe it even if it was written as fiction. At a time of fraught relations this unlikely dialogue between two former spy chiefs from opposite sidesa project that is the first of its kindmay well provide some answers.