[Reader-list] Showkat’s last run

[Aditya Raj Kaul]

*Showkat's last run*
**
*His colleagues thought no bullet had his name written on it. But that run
would prove to be his last. Rahul Pandita and Zubair Dar tell the story of
super cop Showkat Bhat, and those of four others, revealing the tangled
picture of Kashmir
*
Kashmir is like a Kafkaesque fantasy. A few hours before we land at the
Srinagar airport, four Gujarati tourists have been killed in a terrorist
attack. And yet, as we move along the Dal Lake, we see hordes of domestic
tourists, enjoying shikara rides and Kashmiri cuisine. Young soldiers watch
nervously, their fingers fixed on the trigger. Any passerby could be a
suicide bomber. As we pass the Lal Chowk area, a young man fires at a BSF
soldier, killing him on the spot. While we are in the valley, a dreaded
Lashkar militant commander, Abu Talah is killed in an encounter. A senior
police officer tells us how Talah and his men had strangled a man with the
drawstrings of his pajamas.

It is because of villains like Talah that Showkat's story needs to be told.
He is almost a part of the Kashmiri folklore, but no media has ever bothered
to tell his story. For them, he is mere statistics. But Showkat's life is
much more than that. It is an unstated revolt against external interference
in Kashmir. We bring you his story.

Somewhere, somehow, the lives of four other Kashmiris form a trajectory with
that of Showkat's. Together, they form a curve. You can call that curve
Kashmir.
Link: -
http://www.thesundayindian.com/09092007/section.asp?sname='Cover%20Feature'&idate='09/09/2007'

*--
Aditya Raj Kaul
Blog: www.kauladityaraj.blogspot.com
Campaign Blog: www.kashmiris-in-exile.blogspot.com
RIK Website: www.rootsinkashmir.org
US Website: www.unitedstudents.in*