Kashmir politics - in disarray and dirtier than Dal Lake - Times of India

Kashmiris knew about their leaders all along. They knew they played a many-layered game. So when whistleblower website WikiLeaks recently released cables which the then US ambassador to India David Mulford had sent to the US State Department in February 2006, the contents didn't surprise many.

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One cable said: "Kashmir politics is as filthy as Dal Lake". Another said money from Pakistani and Indian intelligence agencies and foreign extremists had given an incentive to its leaders to perpetuate the conflict. "This river of dirty money...calls into question whether the Kashmiri elite truly want a settlement to their problems. The minute a deal is struck, some must surely worry that the funds will dry up," the cable said. The conflict in Kashmir is two decades old and the ordinary Kashmiri has seen it all - from the heady days of 1990 when azadi seemed a matter of hours, days, months and then, years. The many springs of revolution led to numerous summers of hope, autumns of patience and, eventually, winters of despair.

Kashmir politics - in disarray and dirtier than Dal Lake - Times of India