Former head of Pakistan’s military intelligence agency ISI, Hamid Gul, died of a brain haemorrhage in the town of Murree, north-east of the capital Islamabad, on Saturday, says a BBC report.
The 79-year-old General had headed the Inter-Services Intelligence between 1987 and 1989 and while his demise is largely mourned in Pakistan, the reaction has not quite been the same across the border in India.
Gul had supported the armed insurgency into Kashmir and Afghanistan and was constantly seen on TV debates, lambasting both Delhi and Washington as being causes for Pakistan’s inner strife.
He had earlier worked with the US but had fallen out with them and since adopted a very anti-US agenda and was quick to point the finger at them, more often than not.
A quote from a BBC interview in 2010 says much. Gul says: “America is history, Karzai (Afghanistan’s President) is history, the Taliban are the future.”
His gripe with India was not too well-hidden either. B Raman, one of India’s foremost experts on Pakistan had once accused Gul of funding Khalistani terrorists. He said that Gul had justified their support to the militia to Prime Minister Bhutto saying, ‘Madam, keeping Punjab destabilized is equivalent to the Pakistan army having an extra division at no cost to the taxpayers.’
Gul was known to have been pretty kicked by the idea of supporting indigenous groups in Kashmir rather than trying to get Pakistani and Afghani insurgents in.
In a revealing interview with Rediff close to twelve years ago, Gul was very candid about his position on most issues that would concern us.
Talking about then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and General Musharraf’s attempts at reconciliation, Gul had a different take: “Musharraf and Vajpayee are trying to settle the Kashmir issue out of court. The court, in this case, are the people of Kashmir.”
When asked if the Line of Control (LOC) could be turned into an international border, he suggested an American motive behind it. “India thinks so. America is apparently supporting this notion, but their underlying motive is an independent Kashmir,” he said.
And he was not done predicting the future when asked if India didn’t accept Kashmir going over to Pakistan. “Right now, if a plebiscite is held, the Kashmiris will opt for Pakistan but a psychological moment will be created when the Kashmiris will say they can't live with either India or Pakistan. At that time, America will step in and suggest a democratic solution to Kashmir. We are walking into the American trap.”
He added that the Americans were creating an environment where “Kashmiris will charge Pakistan with betrayal”, saying that it was a US-ruse to ensure democracy in an independent Kashmir.