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.
From Bhutto's execution in 1979 to the Al-Aqsa protests, the US bombing of Libya and the Salman Rushdie controversy, rare newspaper archives reveal how international crises repeatedly triggered unrest in Kashmir, with local minorities often bearing the consequences of conflicts far beyond the Valley.
(Kashmir Records Exclusive)
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