‘Kashmir Under 370’ shares new revelations about days of militancy

The book also presents a fascinating portrait of Mirza Hamid Iqbal, a counter-intelligence officer in the D&K Police whose father was defended in court by Pakistan’s founder M.A. Jinnah during his trip to Kashmir before 1947. It was Iqbal who investigated the first batch of attacks that marked the outbreak of hostilities in 1989.

One such example is the encounter with the murder of Sherkhan, the leader of the Al-Umar group, who was released after being released in exchange for Rubaiya Saeed, the daughter of union minister Mufti Saeed.

Information about Sherkhan’s whereabouts came from a father whose two daughters were raped by militants. “Our informant was kicking – some say dancing – the terrorist’s body (after he was killed),” Sabharwal writes.

Another interesting anecdote concerns the 1995 massacre in the Hawal area of ​​Srinagar involving CRPF soldiers accused of indiscriminately shooting at mourners of slain Hurriyat leader Moulvi Farooq, resulting in the death of 70 people.

Sabharwal says he initially decided to allow mourners to lead the funeral procession from Soura Hospital to Mirwaiz’s ancestral residence in central Srinagar. “But Jagmohan’s habit of not listening led to him reversing my decision,” he writes, adding that the controversial former J&K governor had ordered the CRPF to stop the procession “at any cost.”