A General Reminisces: A Life Under Fire in Kashmir

Lt Gen. Satish Dua’s tryst with Kashmir has spanned nearly four decades (from 1980 to 2018), during which, he has observed the changing social, political, security and religious landscape of the region.

In A General Reminisces, he reflects upon this time, his interactions with bureaucrats and experiences about the atmosphere at the Line of Control that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan. He mulls the change, the way it has taken over the citizens and the army stationed there—at the same time, he pens his thoughts about how militancy sprung up in the Valley in 1990s and how the Indian Army evolved to respond to it. A counter-terrorism force called Rashtriya Rifles was created to counter the rising threat. Then there was a bold response of creation of Ikhwan, a rehabilitation programme that allowed young Kashmiri men to convert from militancy and work with the Indian Army. This eventually led to a bolder experiment of raising the Territorial Army battalion, comprising of surrendered terrorists.

In these events, Lt Gen. Dua weaves in the context to tell a story of a terrorist-turned-soldier, Nazir Wani, who ended up becoming the very beacon of change that Lt Gen. Dua has witnessed and hopes for.