The Meadow: Kashmir 1995 – Where the Terror Began. Adrian Levy

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      ADRIAN LEVY AND

      CATHY SCOTT-CLARK

       The Meadow

      Terrorism, Kidnapping

      and Conspiracy in Paradise

       For all of the injured, the dead and the missing

      The headlights filled the road. Everyone cried

      out for mother and father’s love and as the

      doors to the ascent opened the ballad began

      again. For his disappeared love he went from

      hole to hole, grave to grave, searching for the

      eyes that don’t find. From gravestone to

      gravestone, from cry to cry, it went through

      niches, through shadows, and it went like this.

      FROM RAÚL ZURITA, SONG FOR HIS DISAPPEARED LOVE, TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY DANIEL BORZUTZKY

      (ACTION BOOKS, NOTRE DAME, INDIANA, 2010)

      CONTENTS

       Title Page

       Dedication

      List of Illustrations

       MAPS:

       South Asia

       Central Srinagar

       Southern Kashmir and Doda District

       Trekking and Pilgrimage Routes in Kashmir Valley

       Anantnag District

Dramatis Personae

Abbreviations

Prologue

1. Packing

2. A Father’s Woes

3. The Meadow

4. Home

5. Kidnap

       6. The Night Callers

       7. Up and Down

       8. Hunting Dogs

       9. Deadline

       10. Tikoo on the Line

       11. Winning the War, Call by Call

       12. The Golden Swan

       13. Resolution Through Dialogue

       14. Ordinary People

       15. The Squad

       16. The Game

       17. The Goldfish Bowl

       18. Chor-Chor Mausere Bhai (All Thieves are Cousins)

       19. Hunting Bears

       20. The Circus

       Epilogue: Fill Your Arms with Lightning

       Picture Section

       Acknowledgements

       A Note on Sources

       About the Authors

       Praise

       By the Same Authors

       Copyright

       About the Publisher

       ILLUSTRATIONS

      1. The route to the Meadow, photographed by Hans Christian Ostrø shortly before he was kidnapped. (Marit Hesby)

      2. Julie and Keith Mangan and Catherine Moseley trek towards the Meadow in early July 1995. Photo by Paul Wells. (Bob Wells)

      3. Cath, Keith and Julie trek towards the Meadow. Photo by Paul Wells. (Bob Wells)

      4. Setting up camp en route to the Meadow. Photo by Paul Wells. (Bob Wells)

      5. Hans Christian Ostrø being made up for his kathakali dance graduation show in Sreekrishnapuram, May 1995. (Marit Hesby)

      6. Ostrø on board Montana houseboat, Dal Lake, Srinagar. (Marit Hesby)

      7. The Heevan Hotel in Pahalgam. (Courtesy Conveyor magazine, Srinagar)

      8. The wives and girlfriends of the kidnapped men leaving the first press conference at the Welcome Hotel in Srinagar on 13 July 1995. (Agency photo)

      9. Rajinder Tikoo, Inspector General of Crime Branch at the time of the kidnappings. (Undated photo, courtesy Kashmir Times)

      10. Members of the al Faran kidnap party. (Courtesy Maqbool Sahil)

      11. One of the first hostage photographs, taken by al Faran outside the herders’ hut from which John Childs had escaped in the early hours of 8 July. (Agency photo)

      12. Lt. General (retired) D.D. Saklani, Security Advisor to the Governor of Kashmir. (AP)

      13. John Childs reunited with his daughters on 15 July 1995. (Agency photo)

      14. Childs shortly after his rescue. (Agency photo)

      15. A picture of the hostages and their captors that was delivered to the Srinagar Press Enclave on 14 July 1995, shortly before the first deadline expired. (Marit Hesby)

      16. Hostages photographed inside an unidentified herders’ hut, probably in the Warwan Valley. (Marit Hesby)

      17. The Warwan Valley, where the hostages were held for eleven weeks. (Authors’ archive)

      18. Sukhnoi village. (Authors’ archive)