A.G. Noorani’s The Kashmir Dispute 1947-2012 in two volumes presents a substantial and systematic compilation of a lifetime’s work on and around the dispute, much of it already published in various books, journals and magazines over five decades. Volume One features a longish introduction that sums up the present position of the author on the subject. It is also appended with a collection of select archival documents, some of them used to drive home the arguments presented in the introduction. These include drafts of various agreements, correspondence between and among various Kashmiri and Indian political leaders and other supplementary reports and documents. Some of these sources like M.O. Mathai’s note to Indira Gandhi regarding her desire to visit Sheikh Abdullah in prison have been brought into the public domain for the first time.
December 2013, volume 37, No 12