The Meadow

by Adrian Levy, Cathy Scott-Clark

In the summer of 1995, six tourists were kidnapped in the mountains of Kashmir. The ransom note said the kidnappers were from an unheard of Islamic outfit and that they wanted the release of Pakistani militant leader Maulana Masood Azhar (later responsible for the attack on the Indian parliament). The kidnapping electrified the world and for the first time put the global spotlight on Kashmir. Within four days, one of the prisoners had made a hair-raising escape. A month on, was found, beheaded by his captors who had carved their name into his flesh. In the background, camped out in Delhi, the families of the missing struggled to keep their hopes alive, while international governments negotiated frantically with India, and the army, police and intelligence services tried to follow the trail. But the remaining four hostages were never found, their case forgotten - until now.

Genres: India, Nonfiction, History, Terrorism, Crime, Politics, War

536 pages, Paperback

First published March 29, 2012

About the author

Adrian Levy is a journalist and film maker who currently writes for The Guardian. Specializing in long-form investigative work, his pieces most often filed from Asia are published in The Guardian's Weekend magazine.

Reviews

[Ritu · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a heartbreaking read.

The Meadow is an interesting and well-researched book. It gives a detailed account of the kidnapping of six foreign trekkers in Kashmir in 1995. It also gives the reader a perspective of the politics being played by the India government. A look at how if you are a local/average citizen from any country and not a 'Somebody', the countries most often just abandon you and do very little or nothing to help you.

My heart bled for the Ostro the Norwegian who was beheaded. For the families involved. For the wives and girlfriends who witnessed their partners being taken away at gunpoint. For never getting an answer. For being put through so much of trauma, only because they chose to trek through The Meadow. Chose to believe all those involved; that it was perfectly safe to visit Kashmir. For having faith in humanity.

[Kanika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly researched and brilliantly written, it's quite a revelation. Must read!!

[Anant · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is able to create a close relationship of the reader with the hostages. That is the best part in the book.

The authors convey only monochrome view of the Indian Security Forces, and Intelligence Agencies. All other organizations involved (including the kidnappers) were given layered characteristic. And I believe that is the weakness and make me feel it is not completely unbiased rendition. The bias may be in the thought and not intentional.

Even the squad's interminable reach seems less convincing.

But still overall it is a worthy one time read.

[Ankit · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book just after returning from a trip to Kashmir (March, 2017). During my trip, I was taken aback with the military presence around the beautiful Kashmir valley, specially in the town of Anatnag (which later I realized was the heart of militancy).

A lot of the locals I met during my trip felt stifled by the army presence, despised the atrocities committed by the army and blamed the Indian Government for 'violence' brought down in the valley. The Army on the other hand considers their intervention inevitable because of militancy and Pakistan's active role in sponsoring the same.

I had a lot of questions after my trip and wanted to know more about how 'Insurgency' started, the army's intervention, Indian Government's take, etc. My wife had read 'The Meadow' and she suggested me to read it.

The book did a fair justice to my goal. The book is about the kidnapping of six foreigners during 1995 and the events around it. The militants abducted 6 foreigners and asked for 23 militants to be set free, along with their leader - Massod Azhar. The book is day wise account of how the events turned out before, during and after the kidnapping.

The book has quite a few narratives, but the most intriguing ones are from the view point of, (1) The Militants vouching for 'Azaadi', (2) Indian army and other security forces, and (3) Renegade militant organizations which the Indian army sponsors against other militant organizations. It also detailed notes from journals of Massod Azhar, Guys who were kidnapped & their wives, Journalists (closely involved in the research).

Things I loved about the book:
- Research. This is probably one of the best work of journalism I have read.
- Bold. The authors have taken names and narrated the story as-is, not masking any names.
- Multiple Narratives. The authors have handled the complexity of different narratives really well through the book. Nothing seems abrupt, yet each perspective is fairly deep and detailed.

Things that I didn't like:
- Too many details about the before-life of the guys who were kidnapped.
- I couldn't get to understand the 'jihad' narrative based on which thousands of young Kashmiris were inducted to the multitude of militant organizations.

Despite the short comings of the book, I will still rate it 5 stars for the amount of well researched information in the book.

[Ribhu Rathore · Rating 1 out of 5]

Spoilers:
The book is a page turner aright ,but in the end it is slight of hand . It takes time to build the personalities of all the characterless the victims the kidnappers et all but then really quickly in the end blames it all on the Indian army without much evidence, a lot of blame is passed on the indian army without any evidence including the attempted assassination of a BBC journalist and other events.It even takes pains to humanize the kidnappers who beheaded one of thee victims , for which it blames only one of the kidnappers and clears the rest while there is no evidence to show which one or ones actually did it or that most of the others weere against it as the book suggests .

[Ashraf Bhat · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Way To The Meadow: A Review
By Dr. M Ashraf Bhat
“ Kashmir was comprised of secrets, buried so deeply they might never come to the surface" 'Cath' in The Meadow"
Judging from the two dozen odd reviews that it has garnered so far, The Meadow by the British journalists, Adrian Levy & Cathy Scott-Clark, is quite contentious despite impressive evidence of the very thorough research which has gone into its making. My review, however, is different from other such assessments in one significant way: the events narrated in the book simply happened around me.Growing up in the shadows of conflict, of guns wielded by both militants and armed forces, we in Kashmir have witnessed many confusing narratives that just 'happened' but which are now imprinted in our minds, seemingly forever. Everything in 1990s Kashmir was, as I remember it iteratively, brought to a standstill each day. Our lives as young boys were ruled by a primary goal: to save ourselves and to live just for one more day. While boys of our age in other parts of the country were aiming for productive careers in the engineering, medical and civil services and concentrating on their studies, our lives were part of another narrative - knotted, twisted and often grotesque, despite the shimmering beauty of the landscape we inhabited.

In July 1995, after our XI standard biology lecture, a seventeen-year-old boy told us a strange story before the news actually broke in the media. It was the tale of the kidnapping of six foreigners from the upper ranges of Pahalgam valley. How did this boy know of this event even before the fiery media disclosures? He did not tell us and we did not ask - but the dramatic kidnapping episode soon became the talk of the whole town. Everybody had their radios tuned to the frequency for the BBC Urdu news, the only source the people of Kashmir perceived then as reliable and unbiased. I could hear people speculate about the kidnapping everywhere but only a few knew the truth - one of them being a classmate of mine.

The Meado w— the name of the lush, pine-scented camping ground in the Kashmiri Himalayas — tracks this decade and half old but still haunting story. The book is essentially an unravelling of the brutal 1995 kidnapping of six foreign tourists (two Britons, two Americans, one German and one Norwegian) which, some believe, changed the face of modern terrorism and, in a convoluted kind of ways, paved the way for the urban attack of 9/11.

In contrast to the marvellous description of the scenic beauty of the valley, the truth about the journey of the hostages is gritty: the book unsparingly describes their incarceration in deep, remote forests, their rough hand-written notes, the counter-insurgency of militants, the horrific torture by security agencies, and the routine killings of innocent civilians. The Meadow is a candid tract, leaving out little. It discusses the narratives of global jihad, Kashmir , India , Pakistan , Afghanistan , America , Britain ; it deals in ideologies, clashes, deception, the making and unmaking of militancy, of Muslims and the western world. It also considers language, identity and cultural discourses in both indigenous and global contexts.

From my 'Kashmiri' point of view the whole tragedy of the kidnapping recorded in such meticulous detail in The Meadow is framed by two larger 'action' narratives - the narrative of the Pakistani involvement in Kashmir and narrative of the Indian state. Neither of these tales of violence, exploitation and indifference lack in the murky undertones and sinister overtones. Both have had major repercussions not just on the lives of the innocent foreign victims of the 1995 kidnappings but on the continuing lives of the Kashmiri people. That is why The Meadow is such an important and revealing work of journalism - it exposes the overwhelming complicity of governments in ruining the psychological as well as physical environments in which ordinary people live.

The genesis of the first 'Pakistani' narrative that animates this book lies in the attempt by a group of Pakistan based militants to 'free' Masood Azhar, a cleric, and the founder of Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistani militant organization, who happened to be languishing in an Indian jail in the 1990s. How so? Well, Masood's long-term objective was to persuade Kashmiris to engage in a holy war—a jihad— for freedom or azadi . This overt aim on his part was happily in consonance with the more covert goal of Pakistan 's secret service organisation, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), whose eyes were on Kashmir after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan , to create a strategic discourse that would foment discontent in Kashmir . In the February of 1995, Masood Azhar was, thus, dispatched to Kashmir via Bangladesh on a fake Portuguese passport to address the 'Jihad Council' in Kashmir - when the Indian security forces promptly arrested him and put him in Tihar Jail, New Delhi .

Knowing that India had, in the past, released various top militant leaders when influential people were kidnapped by 'militants', Masood's affluent father, Master Alvi—a religious cleric himself belonging to Bahawalpur in Pakistan—then influenced the ISI to devise a specific strategy based on this premise. To set Azhar free, a party of militants under the mysterious name Al Faran , an offshoot of Harkat ul-Ansar (Movement of the Victorious), was dispatched from Pakistan with a well planned operation “ Ghar ”, the Urdu word for home—getting Azhar back to home.

Due to some strategic problems, instead of heading towards their originally intended destination , Anantnag, this kidnapping party, under the command of a Pakistani militant Abu Jindal, had been forced to divert to the ancient citadel of Charar-i-Sharief- holding the shrine, a wooded medevial settlement of fourteenth century Kashmir's patron saint or rishi, Shiekh Noor-ud-din Wali. According to the revelations of the authors, ahead of the kidnapping party, the shirine was already occupied by Haroon Ahmad alias ‘Mast Gul' also known as ‘Major Gul'- a Pakistani militant working for the then largest indigenous Kashmiri militant group, Hizbul Mujhahiden [HM] (p.99). The shrine was cordoned by the armed forces and the men from the various Indian intelligence agencies. In the early hours of 10 May 1995, two explodes rocked the shrine and the in-charge of the kidnapping party, Abu Jindal was arrested by the Indian Army, nevertheless, the HM commander Mast Gul and most of his men had slipped away. Finally, a party of militants succeeded in kidnapping the six tourists - of which one American prisoner escaped- from the upper hills of dense forests of Pahalgam valley, near the meadows. Although Al Faran demanded the release of 21 militants imprisoned in the Indian jails after the kidnapping, it was clear that their main aim from the very beginning was to just free Azhar.

The Meadow speaks of the unimaginable security conundrum in the Kashmir valley at the time. Its description of the Kashmir valley in the 1990s includes the episode of 20 January, 1990 , when the J&K police opened fire on worshipers at Srinagar and killed around five dozen civilians. The book also offers portraits of the people involved in the incident: the story, for example, of Javid alias Sikandar (the Persian name for the Alexander the Great), a cricketing enthusiast and talented pace bowler from Anantnag and a 'key accused' in the kidnapping who had been reading about radical German students who had taken up arms and formed the Red Army Faction in 1970, ‘turned a militant' in 1990, and for whom an uncompromising Islamic identity became the only way to confront India.

Indoctrination is, indeed, more dangerous than nuclear weapons; an idea can destroy or build nations. A conscious and well-strategised 'identity theft', which happened with all militants fighting in Kashmir, was to make them re-identify themselves not as Kashmiris, Afghanis or Pakistanis but a more homogenous body of Islamic fighters, who would respond to any call to perform holy jihad , whether in Kashmir, Palestine or Azerbaijan. Such 'defenders' of Islam would be committed to defending any Muslim suffering at the hands of any 'non-Muslim' (p.90). This notion of global jihad, then, was sustained by the idea of global Islamisation. The authors of The Meadow expressively recount how Kashmir travelled, during the last twenty years of turmoil, from the Sufi/Rishi and liberal human traditions to Islamic laws, referring, for instance, to “…the daughters of the nation, a fringe women's group lobbying for strict adherence to Koranic Law, demanding that women completely cover up. For centuries, Muslim women of all ages have walked with their faces uncovered in Kashmir …” (p. 133).

As the story advances, the more it twists and gnarls, expressing a naked truth of which even the people of Kashmir were not fully aware. The second framing narrative in The Meadow highlights the far from innocent role of the Indian state in Kashmir . The authors claim that far from being utterly clueless, the Indian security forces identified the hostages' exact location early on but chose not to act simply to prolong the adverse international publicity for Pakistan . It also elucidates how the Government of India prolonged its dealing with the militants in its attempts to convince the world that it was not just India but whole world which was affected by the Pakistan-sponsored war in Kashmir . The narrative spells out how the families of six abducted tourists were kept in the dark while the deal between the militants and J&K's then Inspector General of Crime was disclosed to the press in New Delhi by intelligence agencies. This move callously and knowingly aggravated the situation by putting the lives of the kidnapped people at considerable risk.

The book reveals the reluctance of New Delhi to allow either the J&K Police or the Scotland Yard or the FBI to pursue independent investigations that could have ended the hostage crisis. Levy and Scott-Clark write “Anywhere else in the world, the fraternity of police would have shared intelligence and war stories. Here (in Kashmir ) everything was infused by politics, shrouded in secrecy and predicated by control” (p. 386).

A focal point in the gripping tale that The Meadow reconstructs is the brutal, wretched and unfortunate death of one of the kidnapped foreigners, Hans Christian Ostro of Norway , on August 13, 1995 , in upper ranges of the Anantnag hills. All my classmates then had discussed this tragedy - but remained unaware of the identity of the perpetrators. Bewildered, we had asked ourselves why this innocent Norwegian, whose life has little to do with the conflict in Kashmir , who had different dreams, was killed. “He was over-smart and was fighting,” answered the same boy who had broken the story of the abduction. This boy was Abbas Dar, a student from the locality where the body of Hans Christian Ostro was found. Later, we found that he had in fact joined militants and was fully aware of the identity of the abductors and of much else. This very boy, Abbas Dar alias Shaheen, was later killed in an 'encounter' with the security forces in Kishtwar near the 'Meadow'. It is in this ironic sense that his story - and mine and those of our classmates - were affected by the larger tale that Levy and Scott-Clark have now undertaken to tell.

Hans Christian Ostro was murdered. John Childs, the American hostage escaped, but here again the authorities just wanted him to hold his tongue and adopt a conveniently amnesiac stance. The remaining four abducted tourists were never found. Nevertheless, Levy and Scott-Clark's account bluntly exposes the 'real' fate of these foreigners who, according to later disclosures, were handed over to the militants who has surrendered and subsequently worked with the Indian Army and to the shadowy Indian 'intelligence agencies'. These forces allegedly 'bought' the four tourists from Al Faran for Rs.4 Lakhs - and then shot them in cold blood on December 24, 1995 .

As for Masood Azhar, though the Indian government refused to release him or any of the other imprisoned militant leaders in 1995, he was in fact finally released on the Christmas Eve in 1999 when an Indian Airlines flight carrying 178 passengers was hijacked and forced to land in Kandahar. The hijackers of this aircraft once again demanded the release of 36 prisoners from Indian jails and Azhar's name topped the list. It was this same 'released' Masood Azhar who was subsequently implicated in the spectacular and dreadful 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai in 2008.

To return to the terrain of Kashmir, Levy and Scott-Clark's book finally highlights how Indian government-sponsored 'surrendered militants' and security agencies created a reign of terror in the 1990s, killing hundreds of innocent civilians in Kashmir— where the 'official truth' is always a manufactured narrative— and burying them in mass graves. Several such myopic and grave mistakes by the Indian state are still part of the community memories of all Kashmiris.

Even in a generation that has not lived through the traumatic events of 1980s and 1990s, the memories of trauma are potent - and quite sufficient to provoke the Kashmiri populace to violent incidents such as 'stone-pelting' against the Indian security forces at a moment's notice. In this sense, The Meadow strongly questions the Indian claim to ‘finding a political solution' and explains how the Indian state in effect practices the counter-insurgency doctrine - “get them by the balls, and the hearts and minds will follow”. In this context, as I see it, the innumerable 'stone-pelting' events from 2008 and 2010, for instance, were not the sudden, 'flash' uprisings that they appeared to be but involved deep-rooted memories of the atrocities and terror of 1990s. Such events demonstrate that the earlier fears may have dissipated somewhat but an atmosphere of mistrust and suspicion still remains. The brutal kidnapping of the 'western' hostages is clearly the tip of an iceberg. The region waits for more storytellers like Levy and Scott-Clark - including witnesses from within Kashmir .

Following the shocking revelations in The Meadow , Kashmir 's State Human Rights Commission has issued a notice to the state government to explain the 1995 abduction of the foreigners whose fate the authors of The Meadow relate. On August 13, 2012, The Hindustan Times from New Delhi reported: “The state police have told the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) in Srinagar that the master file of the case of six foreigners' kidnapping in south Kashmir in 1995 were gutted in a fire incident.” A 'convenient truth' indeed!

It is time the trust of the Kashmiri people is restored and 'getting them by their balls' is not a policy that can ever translate into peace. The need of the hour is to take account of the people of Kashmir and not only the territory.

( The author is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and can be reached at ‘ashraf.iitk@gmail.com').
Full text is here:
http://www.countercurrents.org/bhat26...

[Virag Padalkar · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thriller from start to end. The authors manage to get us invested in the lives of the travellers to the last page. We experience their fear, follow the turmoil of their families, traverse their treacherous path and yet are also given a bird's eye view of the politics right from New Delhi to Islamabad. A very well written book.

[Sushender Aiyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always had a thing for true stories and this was probably the reason I chose this book
. First and foremost, this book is very well written, the characters involved have been delineated very well, the only quibble would be its crawling pace in the beginning.
Nevertheless, my heart goes out to the families involved , ostro, the Norwegian who was beheaded , I just couldn't muster up to think how his family would have felt, an affable person , gregarious and kind in nature , full of life , whose life was cut short by them .
As the book goes on , you just hope that a truce is reached and the hostages are freed ,
Startling revelation have been made , accusing Indian government being hand in glove or rather incompetent to deal with such crisis.
The thing that hurts most is that it's the
Common men and women who happen to be the victims

[Anandraj R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book. Thoroughly researched and the story has been told in very gripping manner.

Kudos to the author for bring out some shocking revelations on how a group of foreign backpackers who had nothing to do with the Kashmir issue were made as pawns in a game of politics between India & Pakistan. All the allegations/assumptions has well supported evidences.

Later part of this book highlights how the renegades were committing so many atrocities and HR violations with the help of the Indian security establishment.

A must read book for those who want to know a thing or two on Kashmir.

[Shahnawaz Haque · Rating 4 out of 5]

Want a first-hand account of why the valley cries, read this book.While everyone knows the reason for instability in the valley but counter forces have not been responsible too.There are some sincere officers doing their best to handle kidnapping but everyone else is highly reluctant.The last chapter "The Circus" have been quite aptly named.
Uncovering the mass graves in Kashmir SSP Yatoo says "Show me the manner in which a nation cares for its dead, and I will measure the tender mercy of its people,their respect for the law of the land and their loyalty to high ideals"

[Rachit Parekh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The real game of thrones. Brilliantly researched, well written and connects all the dots. This is what investigative writing is about! I'd recommend this book to any government who's thinking of siding up with shady characters to fight proxy wars! Just goes to show how little control we have over the monsters we create.

[Karthik Visweswaran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmmm, could have been dramatized to a lesser extent. Maybe my biases did not make the book a convincing enough read

[Nikhil Verma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much drama makes you start not to believe the author.

[Atar · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic book!!! This is the second book by Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark that I have read, both of them extremely detailed and expertly written. The Meadow: Kashmir 1995- Where The Terror Began is one of those books you just can’t put down. It is a true story of the kidnapping of 6 men, most of whom were with their wives or girlfriends at the time in the mountains of Indian controlled Kashmir. The women let go, the men marched father from freedom. Then the deceit, the stories and rumors that surround this intriguing tale only get harder to decipher. A book of unparalleled grief and drama and not one easily forgotten. The families, the victims, the perpetrators, the scenery, the terror, and most of all the great detective work involved in piecing together the events described in this book must have been tremendous. These two authors have done exceptional work with this book. A must read!!

[Matthew Griffiths · Rating 5 out of 5]

This managed to be both a heart breaking and informative read all at once and I cannot recommend it enough for a fascinating portrait both of the situation in Kashmir and the story of the families of those who were kidnapped.

The book describes in a tremendous level of detail the story of the real life investigations which took place and left me with a lot to think about with regards the situation in Kashmir, I knew coming into this it was complicated but had no idea that it was quite as complicated as it is.

The book, I feel, also does a good job of sensitively handling the stories of the wives and girlfriends who tirelessly waited for the return of their loved ones. for the sections of the book where the authors are able to tell the stories of the victims themselves this too was particularly interesting.

[Shriya Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book complete with breathtaking picturesque valleys of Kashmir dotted with bone-chilling experiences of ten tourists. This is a great recommendation for those who wish to pursue investigative journalism. It tells you how conspiracies work and sources inform. What left me absolutely distraught and depressed was the snippets of the resilience of the victims, which seemed almost hopeful, running toward a happy ending. However, the book left me with a big exclamation mark, predictable yet unbelievable for the human mind wanting happily ever afters.

[Jyotsana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shocked by the revelations in the book. Never would have guessed the kind of game that is played in Kashmir. And between all the geo-political machinations, the innocents suffer. The price of a long war, is a lost humanity. But somewhere towards the end of the read, I felt that the book is portraying a one-sided picture and sympathises with a separatists idea. Anyhow, its still well written and an eye-opening read albeit discretionary.

[Neenu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark, dense and disconcerting.
The Meadow is a convoluted yet fascinating account of the 1995 Kashmir Kidnapping. The Kashmir we know now traces back to some of these revelations.

Normally not big on non fiction, this book makes you wonder if we are living in a hell of our own making.

Impressive journalism albeit in need of some serious editing, I found the backstories and personality profiling repetitive and or trying to get through.

[Kirby · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging narrative about a highly complex piece of history. Shocking, informative, and an important reminder about the political roots of terrorism in the Middle East in the last few decades. I was impressed by the way the book explored the needs of many Kashmiri Muslims—such as autonomy and freedom from a military state—despite centering the around a Western hostage crisis.

[Μίλτος Τρ. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Μια τρομερή δημοσιογραφική έρευνα για την απαγωγή δυτικών τουριστών στο μαγευτικό άλλα πολιτικά fucked up Κασμίρ που διαβάζεται σαν μυθιστόρημα. Είναι πραγματικά υπέροχο, δεν μπορείς να το αφήσεις μέχρι να το τελειώσεις.

[Amit Bagaria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A true story that every Indian must read to find out what is happening in Kashmir.

[Ranjit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very detailed and heart breaking look inside the happenings of the Kashmir valley.

[Mayank Ahuja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good research and writing, but appearing to biased in the end.

[Sangram Chahal · Rating 4 out of 5]

well researched, but 200 extra pages.

[Rajesh Rebala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding, so well researched. A story you can't believe happened but didn't even know about

[Vaibhav Anand · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chanced upon Levy and Scott-Clarke's book 'The Siege' - a fantastic non-fiction thriller about the 26/11 Mumbai terror invasion - which led me to explore the author duo's other works. Though 'Deception' seemed a juicier story, I was forced to pick up 'The Meadow' since 'Deception' was not available in India (Aargh!).

And boy, did the duo not disappoint again! 'The Meadow' is a fantastic fly-on-the-wall non-fiction account of the 1995 kidnapping of six foreign tourists in Kashmir. Levy and Scott-Clarke patiently take the reader through all the players of the Game - Masood Azhar (and his father), Kashmir homegrown militants (such as Sikander), the Pakistani ISI and a myriad of Indian agencies right from the state police to RAW.

The book starts off slow as it takes you through the lives of the foreigners, before it all began. Give it time, though. The authors' investigation(s) eventually reveals a bombshell you will not expect.

Some day someone (hopefully the authors of this book) will write a complete book on Azhar - he is after all more adept at protecting his hide than Osama ever was, in addition to being arguably as adept at terrorism (his fingerprints are on the India Parliament attack, 26/11, Daniel Pearl beheading, London 7/7, etc.) Till then, 'The Meadow' is 'Masood Azhar: Origins' as much as it is the story of a kidnapping gone wrong.

[Arijit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though this work maybe the first of its kind I read, I feel this is one of the higher act in investigative journalism.

A lot of physical hard work in collecting nuggets of detail can be felt through out the book.

The story is gripping and full of painful insights and revelation. Human nature is disturbing irrespective of physical boundaries, that's all I can conclude after the read.

There is no clear separation of black and white. Everybody among and around us is 'Grey'

Hopelessness and meaninglessness take over where love should have been blooming.

[Pamposh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some shocking revelations about the games all parties (groups) in Kashmir seem to play with the lives of ordinary people. To me, the most shocking things were the cynicism of the State and the inhumanity of many of its representatives.

Unfortunately, the most important revelations of the book seem to get a little bit lost in the wealth of detail. I think it would have had more impact if it were a shorter, more tightly edited book. But that doesn't take away from what it reveals or the evidence it offers to support its revelations.

Deserves more attention that it has so far gotten, especially in India.

[Pooja Anand · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a brilliant book. This is what is investigative journalism. A big congratulations for all the hard work and risks taken into joining the dots. A must read for an Indian who think it is only Pakistan who is creating havoc in Kashmir, rather it is actually the game of throne, the superiority and shear politics that goes in Kashmir crisis. The brutal killings, the mess we ourselves have created in the state. And how being a commoner is a crime. Had the hostages been some well connected people, they wouldn't have lost their lives. My sympathies and heart goes out to the families who have lost their loved ones in the game of politics.

[Anubhav · Rating 4 out of 5]

read it over a weekend. recommended for anyone interested in Kashmir. v well written and a damning accusation of the state of affairs in Kashmir during the kidnappings of 1995. there are a few heroes - everyday people - who struggle against all odds. finally, the version, while ringing true, suffers - as the authors acknowledge - from the lack of documented foot-notable sources, and with many players, dead.