Tag: Jammu

Kashmir Rechords Exclusive Perhaps Muhammad Ali Jinnah was trying to build castles in the air—or, more literally, acquire one of Kashmir’s famous floating residences. In June 1947, barely two months before the end of British rule in India, Jinnah was receiving correspondence concerning the possible purchase of houseboats in Srinagar. One offer came from Brenda Blencowe, the owner of a furnished houseboat named Mayflower. Another came...

In October 1947, as armed tribal raiders swept into Jammu and Kashmir from the direction of Pakistan, Baramulla became one of the most horrifying scenes of the invasion. The attack on St Joseph's Convent and Hospital left a trail of death, destruction and terror in a place dedicated to healing the sick, caring for children and sheltering the vulnerable. Among those who witnessed the unfolding horror were foreign Catholic missionaries—women and men who had come to Kashmir to serve, not to fight. They had no military command, no political constituency to defend and no reason to turn a hospital ward into a battlefield. Yet, when the raiders arrived, these missionaries found themselves confronting violence that would remain etched in their memories for the rest of their lives. Their testimony survives in a little-known publication issued in 1958.