Kashmir: Exposing the Myth behind the Narrative

Front Cover
SAGE Publications, Jul 20, 2017 - Social Science - 412 pages

The advent of Islam in medieval Kashmir gave birth to a narrative that describes forcible mass conversion of Hindus, eviction of local people and wanton demolition of religious symbols. A minority of Kashmiri Brahmans and their progeny who did not convert to Islam built and successfully perpetuated this narrative over the centuries. Following the eruption of armed insurgency in Kashmir and mass migration of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990, this community narrative has turned into the Indian mainstream view on Kashmiri Pandits.

Kashmir: Exposing the Myth behind the Narrative challenges the existing narrative. It exposes many fallacies used to uphold this narrative and dissects the work of historians that has sustained ahistorical perceptions over a long period of time. By linking history to the present, the book facilitates an understanding of the situation today.

About the author (2017)

Khalid Bashir Ahmad is an author, poet and a former Kashmir Administrative Services (KAS) officer. He has served the State Administration as Director Information and Public Relations and Secretary, J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, besides heading the departments of Libraries and Research, and Archives, Archaeology and Museums. His book Jhelum: The River Through My Backyard has added the Jhelum Factor to the history of Kashmir. His two works in Urdu poetry and prose have won the highest State literary award in 1984 and 2010.

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