Book description
Mohammed Dar and his three brothers were born in a boat on a lake in
Kashmir, a place of exquisite beauty that was to become a war zone and
nuclear flashpoint. This Himalayan valley of water, mist and mountains
was once one of India's greatest tourist draws. In 1989 it exploded
into insurgency. Kashmir became a rallying cry for jihadi
movements all over the region and Pakistan's backing of the conflict
triggered, in part, its own Islamist crisis. Mohammed Dar and his
family found themselves living inside a new and foreign world of violence.
Justine Hardy has stayed with the Dar family for many years,
reporting on the conflict. She tells their story of living through the
destruction of their adored homeland. Through their eyes we see the
rise of religious fundamentalism and intolerance, the ethnic cleansing
of the Hindu population of the valley, and the recruitment of a
generation to jihad. And, amid the fighting, families continue
to try and educate their children, find work, and protect their
physical and mental well-being, while attempting to build some kind of
future beyond the annihilation of their old way of life. In The
Valley of Mist is an extraordinary story of family survival, at
the heart of a conflict within and beyond the Muslim world.
Justine Hardy is a journalist and documentary maker with an
international reputation. She lives in Kashmir, Delhi and London, and is
the author of five books, of which
Scoop-Wallah
and
Goat: a story of Kashmir
and Notting Hill
were serialised on BBC Radio 4.
