Where a houseboat is not a houseboat and everything else is not always what it seems
Even during Kashmir’s worst years of insurgency, says Ghulam Mohammad Malik, a retired Muslim teacher who has been protecting a temple in Srinagar for over a decade now, no one ever raised an eyebrow at his presence there
Those opposed to Srinagar’s Harud litfest have only strengthened radical voices in Kashmir. In the name of a ‘cause’, they have silenced those whose stories must be told
He is accused of having abducted and killed lawyer Jaleel Andrabi in Srinagar in 1996. He has also been named for the murder of at least a dozen other men. He fled the country, and was back in the news after his wife reported him for domestic violence in California in February this year. A court has ordered the Ministry of External Affairs to ensure his extradition, but no action is being taken. Speaking to Open, the Major says if his extradition is actually initiated, he will never be allowed to return alive, he knows too much and he will not keep quiet
Srinagar is not an escape in any ordinary sense of the term. But it is still a question one can answer
The gentleman’s game in Kashmir is not quite the gentleman’s game anywhere else in the world. Not when India and Pakistan play
Beyond the ‘tourist Dal’ is a secret Dal, full of farmers, families, fishermen - all living off the lake.