Former ISI chief, Lt Gen (r) Asad Durrani on Friday defended his book, “The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace”, co-authored with ex-RAW chief AS Dulat and an Indian journalist Aditiya Sinha.
The literary collaboration was simply a case of two people with experience in Indo-Pak affairs joining hands to discuss their respective perspectives, he said while speaking to The Express Tribune.
Replying to the criticism by ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani, Durrani said that either it be a civilian or former military official, “who has been at the centre of such bilateral matters and experience, has a right to write their memoirs and share their perspectives”.
The ISI chief said that those criticising his book had not actually gone through it and were “reaching conclusions based on distorted news items”.
“The focus of the criticism should be on the substance of the book, rather than who wrote it,” he said.
It merits mention here that Durrani, who served as the chief of Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency from August 1990 till March 1992, is facing criticism of the hands of the country’s former and current leadership owing to the book he co-authored with his Indian counterpart.
On Friday, Pakistan Army also expressed its reservations on the book. According to media reports, the retired general will be summoned to the General Headquarters (GHQ) to explain his position under the light of the military’s code of conduct.
