Even though spring was knocking on the doors in Kashmir, militancy-related incidents, coupled with several massacres and the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits leading to virtual dismantling of the state administration, had turned the capital of Srinagar into a ghost town. Across the Kashmir Valley, January 1990 alone had claimed some 300 lives. A year later on April 23, 1991, Vakil was shot dead in his office by militants and many attributed it to his links with Fernandes, who was trying to revive a political process in militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir. Two years later George was catapulted as India’s Defence Minister, which is closely linked to Kashmir. Only a confident minister like Fernandes could have intervened and saved an innocent soul from rotting in the jail.

Source: dna February 08, 2019 01:30 UTC