Accused of precipitating the Amarnath crisis, former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Lt Gen S K Sinha (retd) plans to present his side of the story in a book that is scheduled to be released early next year.

Titled Recall to Colours: Diary of a Pro-active Governor, Sinha’s book has four chapters, including one each on Assam and J&K. The chapter on J&K is called “Unrest in Paradise”.

In his book, Sinha says the genesis of the recent unrest lay in the struggle between “moderate and tolerant Islam on the one hand and radical and intolerant Islam on the other hand, that got hijacked by the separatists”.

He writes: “The settlement reached in Jammu may prove to be a stepping stone for ultimately winning the war for Kashmiriyat.”

In what he calls his “second autobiography”, Sinha lists the “inauguration of the Institute of Kashmir Studies as an autonomous body”; the “hugely successful performance of the Pakistani Sufi music band Junoon” by the Dal Lake in Srinagar in May 2008; the “three-day Sufi festival organised every year from 2004”; and the “hugely successful statewide essay competition on Mahatma Gandhi and his philosophy” as the “high points” in his attempt to promote “Kashmiriyat” during his tenure as Governor.

With his position on the Amaranth controversy well known by now, Sinha takes on the PDP and its leaders, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and his daughter Mehbooba Mufti, “for being instrumental in creating the problem in the state”.

However, he has kind words for Ghulam Nabi Azad and Farooq Abdullah. On Omar, he writes: “Omar Abdullah’s brilliant speech in the Lok Sabha during the nuclear debate unfortunately included an unnecessarily belligerent remark about the Baltal land. This greatly fuelled the agitation in Jammu.”

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