Lieutenant General Asad Durrani is no stranger to controversy. The first book written by the former head of the Inter-Services Intelligence, The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace, created history. It was written with former head of Research & Analysis Wing A.S Dulat. For this, Durrani was put on Pakistan’s Exit Control List and his pension was scrapped. His second, Pakistan Adrift, was an honest look at the unsustainable marriage between the civil government and the military in Pakistan. The army tried to stop it from being printed and failed. His latest, however, is potentially explosive.
Honour Among Spies is a clever thriller that is a thinly disguised account of what happened to a former spy chief in Pakistan when he writes a book with a former chief spy from India. There are no secrets revealed, but there are uncomfortable truths that he hints at, about the powers that be.
It is clear: the hero Osama Barakzai is him. Jabbar Jatt is the chief of army staff General Qamar Bajwa, a man who has “blind adherence to tribal affiliations”. “Anyone who will read it will straight away come to that conclusion. I want them to come to that conclusion,” Durrani tells THE WEEK over the phone.
He uses fiction to give credibility to what is an open secret in Pakistan. That Jatt propped up Khurshid Kadri “a showman-turned-politician”, referring to Prime Minister Imran Khan. From his guess about Pakistan's culpability in the Osama bin Laden killing, to hints at uncomfortable truths, Durrani's book is just the kind that proves that conspiracy theories can be real.
What makes the book thrilling is the way Durrani has used fiction to outsmart his enemy—those who are out to get him in the army. He also offers an insider's view to the rot within. Durrani, who was accused of funding conservative politicians to destabilise Benazir Bhutto, does not shy from writing about the perils of the deep state interfering with the civilian government. This is why the book is so damaging. “Soon after retirement from the Pakistan Army, I picked up the pen—arguably mightier than the sword unsheathed,” he writes in the author’s note.
The book comes at a time when there is a political storm brewing in Pakistan. Imran Khan is facing the might of a united opposition, and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is making the same accusations as Durrani—of Bajwa being responsible for the toppling of his government, of corruption and interference of the deep state. Revenge, for Durrani, is best served cold. “He, however, had so much faith in is destiny… that he had no doubts the pen he now wielded would one day turn the tables on the powers that be,” he writes about the hero. Interestingly, the book seems to have been allowed to be published.
Excerpts from an interview with THE WEEK:
Honour Among Spies is a very brave book to write.
One made an effort. Because it was such an unusual experience one went through, it was worth writing about it.
Are you afraid of the repercussions?
I have no idea what the repercussions will be. One has to be ready for anything that could happen. Everything cannot be predicted. Because if you want to play it high, some other things may come up, which may be embarrassing for other players too. We will see.
It was important for me to get the message across. It is always important, regardless of where you are and what position you are in. If there is a message you think you must convey to people, then you should.
The real problem was not the book. That is what Honour Among Spies should convey. There are people who carry a history and a very uncomfortable history and there are some people who can be very uncomfortable with that.
In the book, there are parallels that are difficult to miss. The main character is like you. Jatt seems to be Bajwa. Your comment.
Anyone who reads it will straight away come to that conclusion. I want them to come to that conclusion. I still belong to that institution, which produced different types of people. If it is possible that someone like him should also be there, let people know that such things can also happen. It is not unprecedented.
This is a pretty big risk to take in Pakistan, right?
Anywhere, perhaps. If it is a big thing to do, then it had to be done. Someone has to bell the cat. I got the opportunity to do it. I did not volunteer to do it. People keep asking others, “If you had a chance, are you going to do these things?” This opportunity came to me, and I was not going to chicken out.
You are probably first to bell the cat in print.
In this manner, yes. But there have been people before me. Over 70 years, there have been predecessors who had the courage. Some people would resign. Some would say something and may be punished for that. After the 1971 debacle (India-Pakistan war), a former fauji wrote a blunt book called Crisis in Leadership. I would not say I am a pioneer in this.
Your book also has a character like Osama bin Laden. You have talked about Pakistan being complicit in sheltering him. This is not the first time you have made that claim.
That chapter was closer to the truth than anything else in that book. I said what I could only guess. But later on, people have written books. One of my colleagues was provided official access. He was not going to talk about everything he saw. But his conclusion was: “Yes, we, Pakistan, preferred incompetence over complicity.”
In May 2011, without knowing what had happened I made my assessment and said it could not have happened, without our help. I can understand why we would deny it—to avoid that political embarrassment. I did not want to say we are incompetent. But I had never known more. Till today, I am not claiming that I know what happened.
In the book you talk about a theory that the Iran strike on the US’s Iraqi airbase after the murder of Qasem Soleimani was an eye-wash. It was a smart way to avoid a conflict. Osama, in the book, claims that the surgical strike by India too is a face-saver. Is this also conjecture?
No. Dulat and I talked about Uri. We came to the conclusion at that time that there must have been understanding and some wisdom to say that if it has happened, at least it can diffuse a particular situation.
As for the Middle East, it has happened twice. A Syrian base was once hit five years ago, too. My German friends said Israel, Russia, etc were on board. It was a smart thing to do.
At this point of the relationship, when both sides are so bitter, do you see any possibility of any understanding?
There is a certainly possibility. In the present circumstances, if we [ask can] things get worse, yes, they can. It is not that a war can start. The war is already on. It has been on all the time. It can get intensified like with [the death of] Burhan Wani or [abrogation of article] 370. These are events that get you in another phase. [But] conventional war will not happen.
Do you think Track II diplomacy has meaning anymore?
Track II is a circus. We started it after the nuclear tests in 1998. I have taken part in some of them. Islamabad and Delhi are not waiting for us to come back and tell them what to do after a Track II event. The beneficiaries of Track II, apart from people like me who can go and participate, are the sponsors. They get a good report.
What will happen to Jatt and Kadri?
I do not know. For a long time, one has avoided following the domestic political front. In the last two or three years, when I have tried to keep a tab of things, I feel that it [we are] gradually drifting in a direction that some major course correction will need to happen. It does not seem sustainable. Looking at the events in the past few years, I don’t see a sustainable process. It does not have to do with Jatt or Kadri. It is because in a dual system, people do not know how to take responsibility.
You begin the book by saying the pen is mightier than the sword. In your case, is it true?
When I dusted the uniform and took it out, I said the pen might be stronger for other reasons. Let me wield it. I wanted to believe it. I also found the pen only reaches to those people who can read.
You made a comment that Nawaz Sharif does not read.
He was not harmful on that front. But people who can read and believe, and if they hold a stick, only themselves harm by slash themselves—like the monkey and the blade. The best way to use the military force is not to use it at all. There are people who believe that now that we have a force, we can go and start shooting with the guns. That is where harm may come.
You suggest that the war on terror within Pakistan has been fuelled so that terror continues. Do you agree with that?
The war on terror in any case was a misnomer. You cannot wage war on something like terror. In Pakistan or even generally. You can fight terrorists. That means there is a part that has to be done by force. Most of it will have to be done by other means since we are fighting are own people. Some people will have to be bribed, pacified or accommodated. It is a combination of battle and manoeuvre. You battle with some people. Then, you manoeuvre yourself in a way that if you have to fight next time, you are in a better place.
You also say you have written this book because Dulat felt guilty.
He is a good man. His first reaction was that [our book] was his idea. I had to tell him ‘Even if it was your idea after all, I decided to be partner in it, so you don’t have to feel guilty.’
I consider myself very fortunate that despite everything that happened, it provided me a good perspective to learn a lot…. I do not regret it at all.
Honour Among Spies
Published by HarperCollins India
Price Rs499
Pages 224