Advani Wasn't in Favour of Terrorists' Swap: Farooq Abdullah Reveals Inside Story of IC-814 Crisis

"Let me be very honest to you, I felt Advaniji was not in favour of this (terrorists' swap). This is God's truth I tell you. I felt at that time, he was pushed into it," said Farooq Abdullah revealing the inside story of IC-814 hijack crisis. Speaking to NDTV, the National Conference supremo said he had warned Jaswant Singh and LK Advani not to swap terrorists. "I asked Jaswant Singh," he said, 'is the nation so weak that we can't put up a fight?'" In a frank conversation with NDTV over the controversial memoirs of former R&AW chief AS Dulat, Mr Abdullah said, "unless sacrifices are given for this nation, this nation will never build. Nation has to be tough. You cannot make India by being soft."

The former Chief Minister of J&K also confirmed perhaps the most dramatic revelation made recently by the former R&AW chief AS Dulat in his book Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years that the Indian intelligence agencies have often bankrolled the expenses of Kashmiri separatists and militants, as well as other political parties. Mr Abdullah said that India did this to convey a message that we are here to help and not here to kill.

While the former R&AW chief has been criticised for revealing secrets of statecraft, Mr Abdullah said he should be congratulated for his courage in exposing this, instead of hiding it. The former chief minister also confirmed that he did help the son of Syed Salahuddin, head of the terror group Hizbul Mujahideen, to get a placement in the state's medical college.