PARTITION - additional recordings I Andrew Whitehead I ____________________________________I CD-26 Farooq Abdullah son of Sheikh Abdullah and former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, interviewed at his home in Srinagar by AW, 1 May 2003 two Indian security checkpoints outside - search and security inside off the record, talked with anger about India’s failure to keep promises to Kashmir - no faith in Vajpayee’s recent Srinagar initiative - spoke about the second coming of the Mahdi, would come when Islam is at its lowest ebb and it’s it its lowest ebb now - spoke with anger at his treatment while checking in recently at an airport in the US, eben tho travelling on an Indian dip passport (he had an unused visa for Iraq in the passport) two cricket bats in cases and a bag of golf clubs in a comer of the office, and a baseball cap on a hook; photos with hisn son and grandchild on ndisplay - in the ante-room a portrait, and another painting of his father Track 1 My name is Farooq Abdullah. I’m patron of a party called National Conference. I’m now a memebr of the upper house of nthe Parlt called the RS and 47 - terrible moments nfor this state. At that time, two dominions were made, one was India and the other was Pakistan... at that time parleys took place between leaders of the NC and the Pak leadership ... My father Sheikh Abdullah, also known as Sher-i-Kashmir, the lion of Kashmir nwas imprisoned by the Mah and had 9 years imprisonment sentence ... (some details of talks, and of Maharajah’s strategy - CD BE OF USE)... there were movements in Delhi withy some sort of undergroudn talks with the Mah, which has now come out of the bag. This gave the Pakistanis a feeling that the Mah is buying time and finally is not going to settle with Pak... and India might be the dominion he night accede to ... (then partition agreement as affected princely states) ... here, while the Nah was a Hindu, the majority of people of the state I wd say not less than 75 to 80 per cent were Muslims ... (5’00) Pak at that time staged a tribal invasion of the state ... I was bom 36, 37 so I sd have been 10/11 years old AND YOU WERE IN SRINAGAR? Yes, I was very much in Srinagar AND YOUR FATHER WAS STILL IN JAIL ...Still in jail [interrupted] Track 3 WILDTRACK - of sound in FA’s room, with rain falling outside (c 20secs) REMEMBER WHEN FIRST HEARD RAIDERS WERE ON THEIR WAY? Yes, that was a time when we used to live in ? Soura, and a little activity was taking place. My mother was running the movement while my father was in prison and i noticed that some changes in the air. And as kids you know, we didn’t know what the heck is hhappening, And then suddently I