Book review
Dispatches from a valley under siege
Since 1989, Kashmir has rarely been out of the headlines, as local militants, foreign terrorists and Indian security forces battle it out in a region once known as `paradise on earth'. In all the propaganda, and news and statistics about terrorist strikes, counter insurgency operations and the foreign hand, the human stories, however, are often lost. In this book, journalist Humra Quraishi draws upon her extensive travels in the Valley and interactions with ordinary Kashmiris over two decades to try and understand what the long strife has done to them. She brings us heartrending stories of mothers waiting for their young sons who disappeared years ago, picked up by the army or by militants; minds undone by the constant uncertainty and fear and almost daily humiliation; old harmonies tragically undermined by the atmosphere of suspicion; an entire generation of young Kashmiris who have grown up with no concept of security; and individual families and a whole society falling apart under the strain of the seemingly endless turmoil

Edition: Paperback
Format: B | 216 pages
Classification: Non Fiction
Published: 5/1/2004


About the author Humra Quraishi is a freelance reporter and columnist based in Delhi. Her features and interviews appear in the Times of India, the Hindustan Times, the Indian Express, the Statesman, Pioneer and Tribune. Since 1990 she has been visiting Jammu and Kashmir regularly to report on the turmoil there and the effect it has had on the lives of the Kashmiri people.