NEW DELHI: Veteran US Diplomat and Pakistan expert Robin L Raphel, whose is currently being probed on espionage charges by American security agencies, encouraged creation of separatist Hurriyat Conference in Kashmir and often forced Delhi to hold dialogue with Islamabad even when bilateral ties were low, according to Indian officials who worked with her during the past two decades.
Raphel (67), remained Americas advisor on Pakistan, even after she left US State Department’s South Asia Department in June 1997 and also her retirement. However, it was during the turbulent nineties when insurgency was at it’s height in Jammu and Kashmir that Raphel made headlines here as a India baiter.
Government officials, who dealt with Raphel in 1990s and also in past decade but did not wish to named, told ET that she was responsible for creation of Hurriyat Conference in Kashmir in 1993 whereby making them as a stakeholders even as India has always maintained that it was bilateral issue between Delhi and Islamabad.
Indian government officials no doubt are elated in private about the action against Raphel. “This is an interesting development. She has been extremely close to Pakistan. Her links in Kashmir runs deep,” remarked a senior Indian official who did not wish to be named.
Another former Indian official who dealt with Raphel in 1990s and also during the decade of 2000, alleged that she was close to all separatist groups in Kashmir. “She went on to question the instrument of succession of J & K with India and had stated that insurgency in the state was self sustaining. She was also close to Ghulam Mohammed Fai in US, an ISI conduit from Kashmir,” the official recalled.
Raphel, former officials said, is known to maintain close links with Yasin Malik, leader of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front. Besides, she is close to Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the most prominent face of Hurriyat Conference. A former official, who was testimony to one such incident told ET that in 2005 Raphel accompanied then US Deputy Chief of Mission in Delhi for a meeting with the Indian government and tried to cajole the government to talk to Mirwaiz. The role of that US Deputy Chief of Mission in this episode also finds a mention in Wikileaks. The Modi government made it clear that it does not consider Hurriyat Conference as a stakeholder after Pakistani High Commissioner met the leaders ahead of the Foreign Secretary level talks.
Earlier when relations between Delhi and Islamabad had touched a low following the attack on Parliament in 2001 and both sides had lowered level of diplomatic engagement, it was Raphel who tried to force India to talk to the Pervez Musharraf government, another official recalled. T “She would go that extra mile for Pakistan often sidestepping our concerns,” the official said, adding Raphel remained State Department’s Pakistan adviser even after she retired from the State Department.
Few also took notice that Raphel was in Delhi in 2012 at the invitation of then US envoy to Nancy Powell. The former US ambassador, who herself made an unceremonious exit from Delhi this year, introduced Raphel as a personal friend of hers to the some of the officials in Delhi. In fact Powell had fixed meetings of Raphel in Delhi, an official well versed with the developments informed ET.
It was her characterization of Kashmir as “disputed territory”, a first in the annals of U.S. diplomacy, made her quick friends in Pakistan. She in fact contributed in internationalising Kashmir issue, much to India’s discomfiture. Her stance on Kashmir made her the bane of the Indian establishment that did not favour any interference of outside powers in a domestic matter.Kashmir was raised on the agenda in Bhutto’s first state visit to Washington in April 1995.
Kashmir would remain a key topic of regional and bilateral discussions with both India and Pakistan throughout President Bill Clinton’s two terms in office. Raphel was also close to Bill Clinton who pulled her out from post of Counsellor she was holding in the US Embassy in Delhi to make her Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, a former diplomat recalled. She remained one of the most senior adverse of State Department on South Asia and Pakistan and was working with the State Department on renewable contracts.
