India Today

1 week ago | indiatoday.in | Rahul Gupta

In part 5 of our series on the history of terrorism in Kashmir, we revisit the period between 1990 and 1996, when the Valley gave the illusion of a successful uprisingFor nearly two centuries, a tragic game of deception has unfolded in Kashmir. Its defining feature is an illusory facade, like a sorcerer’s veil, that conceals the region’s true reality. Behind this veil, powerful forces operate in secret, masking their true intentions until the moment is right.

2 weeks ago | indiatoday.in | Rahul Gupta

In part four of our series tracing the history of terrorism in Kashmir, we revisit the December 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed that encouraged thousands to hit the streets and bring the Indian government to its kneesFormer Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was a unique political entity in Kashmir. Hawk-nosed with thick silver hair, lush eyebrows and intense eyes, he resembled every bit of the lawyer he once was.

2 weeks ago | indiatoday.in | Rahul Gupta

In part 3 of our series on the history of terror in Kashmir, we revisit the winter of 1989, when the blood of Kashmiris flowed through the Valley, leading to the biggest exodus in Independent IndiaAl-Safa is one of the two hills where Muslims perform a holy ritual during the Haj pilgrimage in Mecca. But, to the Kashmiri Pandits, safa (holy) means a sinister morning. During the winters, the sun (aftab in Persian) appears briefly in Srinagar.

2 weeks ago | indiatoday.in | Rahul Gupta

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2 weeks ago | indiatoday.in | Rahul Gupta

Between and after the failure of these Caliphate-style conquest plans, Kashmir stayed calm. The only notable disturbance was religious. On December 27, 1963, the Moi-e-Muqqadas, a strand from Prophet Muhammad’s beard, vanished from Srinagar’s Hazratbal, the city’s sole domed mosque. As protests swept Kashmir, police fired, killing two. Once the relic was recovered, peace returned.   After his army’s surrender in Dhaka in 1971, Bhutto, now Pakistan’s prime minister, grew cautious of further gambits.