My Kashmir: The Dying of the Light

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A clear-sighted and timely examination of Kashmir’s recent history, the bloodshed, betrayals and the urgent quest for a lasting peace!Jammu and Kashmir has been ravaged by conflict for sixty years. Caught in a tug-of-war between India and Pakistan, the state—a model of harmony and coexistence for centuries—is today riven by conflicts of ethnicity, of religion and national identity; by friction between national and local governments and by rival claims to territory. My Kashmir lays out the intricate web of issues at the root of the crises that engulfed the state at the close of the twentieth century. In an account that is part history, part memoir, Habibullah draws on his long personal experience in the state administration to trace the missteps of the Indian government, the greed of entrenched Kashmiri elites, the state’s religious politics, the inevitable polarization of communities and the ubiquitous political intrigue that repeatedly undermined hopes of tranquillity.Unlike many others who have written on the subject, Habibullah gives even-handed treatment to both Indian and Pakistani perspectives, but keeps the Kashmiri people at the centre stage and it is their story that forms the bedrock of this account. At a moment when the prospects of an abiding peace are barely discernible and the nuclearized neighbours are both threatened by the apocalypse of terrorism, My Kashmir is a clear- sighted and timely examination of Kashmir’s recent history and it urgent quest for lasting peace.

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Wajahat Habibullah, a former civil servant from the Indian Administrative Service, has spent much of his career in Jammu and Kashmir, most of it in the Kashmir valley. He held the post of minister in the Embassy of India, Washington DC. Subsequently, he was secretary in the ministries of textiles and Panchayati Raj, the department of consumer affairs, and was administrator of the island territory of Lakshadweep. After retiring from the service Habibullah served as India’s first chief information commissioner. A former senior fellow at the United States Institute of Peace, Habibullah has been awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Award for Excellence in Secularism.