Kashmir Rechords

By: Dr Rajesh Bhat History often survives not only in official proclamations, political speeches and government files, but also in invoices, private letters and everyday...

(By: Dr Rajesh Bhat*) In the turbulent months after Independence, while Jammu & Kashmir was being transformed by war, accession and political upheaval, another drama...

Kashmir Rechords Exclusive In the summer of 1931, two cattle-grazers near Naupur village, a few kilometres from Gilgit, stumbled upon something that had remained hidden...

A thought-provoking visual representing the Kashmiri Pandit exodus and the collapse of long-held assumptions about their place in Kashmir. The image evokes displacement, loss, changing social realities and the difficult reassessment of beliefs that followed the upheaval of the 1990s.

From Pamposh and Shyama Zutshi to Shammi Kapoor’s romantic Kashmir, the Valley has shared a remarkable century-long relationship with Indian cinema. Then the cameras and cinema halls disappeared amid turmoil. Now, with Bollywood returning, theatres reopening and the International Film Festival of Jammu & Kashmir bringing world cinema to the Valley, Kashmir’s cinematic journey has entered a new chapter.

(Kashmir Rechords Archival Exclusive) Most of us know that the erstwhile State of Jammu & Kashmir had its own currency. But how many know that...

( Kashmir Rechords Archives) There are moments in history when a political leader says something in the heat of a legislative debate that reveals more...

The story of Kashmir's turmoil did not begin with the 1987 elections......

In April 1981, a secret Income-Tax operation in Srinagar targeting several business establishments quickly spiralled into a major controversy. Contemporary newspaper reports recorded the seizure of gold, foreign currency, cash, goods and documents, while also reporting clashes in which members of the raiding party were assaulted. The archival photograph of the injured Income-Tax officers, including two officials shown in wheelchairs, provides a rare human dimension to the episode. Subsequent reports alleged foreign links, concealed income and tax evasion running into crores of rupees. Within weeks, the legality of the raids was challenged before the Jammu & Kashmir High Court, and the dispute eventually reached the Supreme Court. This Kashmir Rechords feature reconstructs the episode exclusively through seven contemporary newspaper clippings preserved in its archive, offering a remarkable day-by-day glimpse of a dramatic and largely forgotten episode in Srinagar's history.

In January 1979, a frightening rumour about radioactive snow sent a wave of anxiety through Kashmir. The authorities denied it, but the episode revealed something much older—the Valley’s enduring fascination with whispers, exaggeration and manufactured news.

From threatening posters in 1965 to a chilling letter sent to a Kashmiri Pandit businessman in 1984, the record shows that intimidation of Kashmir’s minorities predates the violence of 1989-90. As fresh threats surface in 2026, the old pattern—identify, intimidate and force submission—appears disturbingly familiar.

(Kashmir Rechords Exclusive) On September 23, 1988, a year and more than a month before Judge Neelkanth Ganjoo was assassinated in Srinagar, terrorists came to...