Amarjit Singh Dulat (born 1940) is an Indian bureaucrat former spymaster and a former special director of the Intelligence Bureau he also served as Secretary of the Research and Analysis Wing from 1999 to 2000. After retirement, he was appointed as an advisor on Jammu and Kashmir in the Prime Minister's Office and served there from January 2000 to May 2004.
Career
Born in a Sikh Dulat family, Dulat joined the Indian Police Service from Rajasthan Cadre in 1965, and in March 1969, joined the Intelligence Bureau. He was educated at Bishop Cotton School, Shimla and graduated from Panjab University, Chandigarh.
He served in Kashmir as Joint Director in the Intelligence Bureau from 1988 to 1990 which was arguably the most troublesome time in the valley. His entered Kashmiri politics in 1990 through Shabir Shah, whom he called "big daddy of militants." He then moved to Intelligence Bureau where he was promoted to the rank of Special Director. In 1999, he became chief of Research and Analysis Wing until his December 2000 retirement."'New RAW chief expert on Pak, China'", Times of India, 15 December 2000.Vikram Sood, new RAW chief, The Hindu, 13 December 2000
Post retirement His 2015 book Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years, earned media attention. In 2018, he co-authored The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace with Asad Durrani, former head of the Inter-Services Intelligence.Muhammad Saleh Zaafir, Former ISI, RAW chiefs co-author book, The News, 21 May 2018
Dulat has criticised Ajit Doval, the National Security Advisor, by calling Doval "hawkish" for his hardline position on handling border disputes with China. In Dulat's book, A Life In The Shadows: A Memoir, published in 2022, a full chapter was focused on Doval strategy of "muscular power" in Kashmir. In 2023, he also criticised Doval's doctrine for handling the Kashmir conflict with Pakistan.
In popular culture
Dulat has been portrayed in certain recent Indian cinema and web series in rather compromising light. They include Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar (2025/2026) and Anubhav Sinha’s IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack (2024). These portrayals frame him as an intelligence official with "dovish" or "soft approach" to national security, particularly in Kashmir, undermining India's interests.
Bibliography Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years (with Aditya Sinha) (HarperCollins, 2015) The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace (with Asad Durrani and Aditya Sinha) (HarperCollins, 2018) A Life In The Shadows: A Memoir (HarperCollins, 2022)
References