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On 13^th September, Kishtwar Cauldron: The Struggle against ISI’s Ethnic Cleansing, authored by Maj. Gen. (Retd) Dr G D Bakshi, SM VSM, was launched at the VIF. The book was released by Lt. Gen. (Retd) S K Sinha, PVSM, former Governor of Assam and Jammu & Kashmir. Also present as panellists were Dr Romesh Raina, President of the Kashmiri Pandit Samaj and Ms Sandhya Jain, eminent writer of contemporary political affairs and a columnist at Pioneer.

Maj. Gen. Bakshi initiated the discussions by giving some vital insights into his new book. He mentioned that the book not only recorded the courageous and glorious deeds of the Army personnel in Kishtwar valley, but also highlighted the disgraceful lack of moral courage that we as a nation have shown, especially in pushing under the carpet Pakistani ISI’s blatant attempts at ethnic cleansing, first in Kashmir and then in Kishtwar. Dr. Romesh Raina succinctly captured the gradual and alarming replacement of local liberal Muslims by the Wahabis who entered and settled in Jammu and Kashmir over the last five decades and began threatening the minority community.

Sandhya Jain highlighted the fact that Kishtwar is the symbol of Indian struggle against an ISI plot that challenges Indian sovereignty. She also criticised Article 370 of the Constitution, calling it illegitimate and unacceptable as it makes the possibility of saving the minorities in the state of Jammu and Kashmir extremely difficult.

In his address, Lt. Gen. Sinha argued that no State or Central government can allow such a massive scale of ethnic cleansing and with the release of this book, and many more in the future, which brings out the reality of Jammu and Kashmir, he hoped that the political class and the civil society of the country will ensure that no such outrageous attempts carried out by the ISI are tolerated any further.

Lt Gen (Retd) Gautam Banerjee, Member, Executive, Council, VIF was present on the occasion.