Sign-In
Cart
Strategic Essays on Kashmir's Pivotal Years: The 2002-2003 Inflection Point
Paperback
General Political ScienceInternational Relations
Publisher Price: $14.99
ISBN13: 9789356554504
Publisher: Saphor(tm) Partners
Published: Jan 30 2026
Pages: 206
Weight: 0.62
Height: 0.47 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
What really changed in Kashmir-and why did it take so long?
Strategic Essays on Kashmir's Pivotal Years: The 2002-2003 Inflection Point offers a rigorous, contemporaneous account of the year that quietly reshaped India's Kashmir doctrine-long before its consequences became visible in policy and power.
Written during 2002-2003, the book captures Jammu & Kashmir at a rare crossroads. Ordinary citizens defied intimidation to vote in large numbers, rejecting violence and separatist boycotts, even as Pakistan's state-sponsored jihad infrastructure remained fully operational. The result was a paradox that would define the next decade: democratic legitimacy without strategic closure.
Drawing on essays originally published in Kashmir Telegraph and other leading Indian and international platforms, Romeet K Kaul analyses why the 2002 elections exposed the hollowness of Pakistan's Kashmir cause, why coalition politics in Srinagar faltered under ideological contradictions, and why New Delhi's policy of strategic restraint failed to deter cross-border terrorism.
At the heart of the book is a central argument later vindicated by events after 2014: Kashmir was never merely a problem of governance or alienation, but a sustained proxy-war driven by Pakistan's military-mullah nexus. Democracy without deterrence and integration, the book argues, could not end it.
Key themes include:
- The 2002 J&K Assembly elections were the first credible democratic test after a decade of insurgency
- The terror ecosystem of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed
- The limits of the healing touch in the face of organised jihad
- Pakistan's double game with the United States
- The myths surrounding UN resolutions and partition end-games
- How ambiguity and moral equivalence prolonged the conflict
Seen from today's vantage point-after the abrogation of Article 370, the reorganisation of Jammu & Kashmir as a Union Territory, surgical strikes, Balakot, and Operation Sindoor-these essays read less like history and more like a diagnosis. They explain why India eventually abandoned strategic restraint and why constitutional integration became unavoidable.
Unapologetically right-of-centre yet grounded in field observation, this book is both a chronicle and a warning: peace without clarity is temporary, and sovereignty without resolve invites coercion.
For policymakers, students of national security, informed citizens, and readers seeking to understand how India's Kashmir policy evolved from hesitation to hard resolve, this book offers a rare record of the argument before it became consensus.
Also in
International Relations
Nonstate Warfare: The Military Methods of Guerillas, Warlords, and Militias
Biddle, Stephen
Hardcover
Turning the Tide: U.S. Intervention in Central America and the Struggle for Peace
Chomsky, Noam
Paperback
Wronged by Empire: Post-Imperial Ideology and Foreign Policy in India and China
Miller, Manjari Chatterjee
Paperback
Dawn of the Code War: America's Battle Against Russia, China, and the Rising Global Cyber Threat
Graff, Garrett M.
Carlin, John P.
Paperback
Hostage on the Yangtze: Britain, China, and the Amethyst Crisis of 1949
Murfett, Malcolm H.
Hardcover
Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor
Kuehn, Christine
Hardcover
100 Deadly Skills: The Seal Operative's Guide to Eluding Pursuers, Evading Capture, and Surviving Any Dangerous Situation
Emerson, Clint
Paperback
The Kennedys and the Windsors: The Story of Two Dynasties, One Born, One Made
Hallemann, Caroline
Hardcover
The American School of Spies: The Archaeologists Who Fought the Nazis and Saved the Treasures of Ancient Greece
Talty, Stephan
Hardcover
Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II
Graham, Elyse
Paperback
A Brief History of the World in 47 Borders: Surprising Stories Behind the Lines on Our Maps
Elledge, Jonn
Paperback
The Nord Stream Conspiracy: The Inside Story of the Explosions That Shook the World
Pancevski, Bojan
Hardcover
Kennedy's Coup: A White House Plot, a Saigon Murder, and America's Descent Into Vietnam
Cheevers, Jack
Hardcover
Killed to Order: China's Organ Harvesting Industry and the True Nature of America's Biggest Adversary
Jekielek, Jan
Hardcover
Polar War: Submarines, Spies, and the Struggle for Power in a Melting Arctic
Rosen, Kenneth R.
Hardcover
The Best Kind of American: A True Story of Murder, War, and America's Undoing in the Middle East
Ghattas, Kim
Hardcover
The Havana Syndrome: Secret Weapons, a Government Cover-Up, and the Greatest Spy Mystery of Our Time
Rey, Michael
Zill de Granados, Oriana
Hardcover
Autocrats vs. Democrats: China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder
McFaul, Michael
Hardcover
Going to Tehran: Why America Must Accept the Islamic Republic of Iran
Leverett, Hillary Mann
Leverett, Flynt
Paperback
The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the Cia, and the Rise of America's Secret Government
Talbot, David
Paperback
How to Win a Trade War: An Optimistic Guide to an Anxious Global Economy
Bown, Chad P.
Keynes, Soumaya
Hardcover
100 Deadly Skills: A Navy SEAL's Guide to Crushing Your Enemy, Fighting for Your Life, and Embracing Your Inner Badass
Emerson, Clint
Paperback
Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States
Parsi, Trita
Paperback
The Visionaries: Bretton Woods, the Marshall Plan, and the Making of the Post-World War II Order
Holland, James
Hardcover
The World for Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources
Farchy, Jack
Blas, Javier
Paperback
Bytes and Bullets: Global Rivalries, Big Tech, and the New Shape of Modern Warfare
Feldstein, Steve
Hardcover
Tradecraft, Tactics, and Dirty Tricks: Russian Intelligence and Putin's Secret War
Wiswesser, Sean Michael
Hardcover
Axis of Aggressors: Countering the Cooperation of China, Russia, Iran & North Korea
Dezenski, Elaine K.
Bowman, Bradley L.
Montgomery, Rear Admiral (Ret) Mark
Paperback
The Great Heist: China's Epic Campaign to Steal America's Secrets
Badger, Andrew
Shedd, David R.
Hardcover
A Shadow Over the World: Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Rise of Fascism, and the Making of America's World War II
Hitchcock, William I.
Hardcover
A Moon Will Rise from the Darkness: Reports on Israel's Genocide in Palestine
Albanese, Francesca
Paperback
The Twilight War: The Secret History of America's Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran
Crist, David
Paperback
We Are The Bad Guys: How The U.S. Wages War, Controls Economies, and Calls It Freedom
Lester, Michael
Paperback
Shadow Cell: An Insider Account of America's New Spy War
Bustamante, Andrew
Bustamante, Jihi
Hardcover
Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War's Most Extraordinary Spy (Large Print Edition)
MacIntyre, Ben
Paperback
Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory
MacIntyre, Ben
Paperback
Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941
Olson, Lynne
Paperback
Days of Rage: America's Radical Underground, the Fbi, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence
Burrough, Bryan
Paperback
When America First Met China: An Exotic History of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail
Dolin, Eric Jay
Paperback
While Israel Slept: How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle East
Bohbot, Amir
Katz, Yaakov
Hardcover
More Than a Shirt: How Football Shirts Explain Global Politics, Money and Power
D'Urso, Joey
Paperback
Race Against Terror: Chasing an Al Qaeda Killer at the Dawn of the Forever War
Tapper, Jake
Hardcover
Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II
Mundy, Liza
Paperback
Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict
Chenoweth, Erica
Stephan, Maria
Paperback
The Globalist Plan to Collapse Everything: To Usher in a New World Order
Roberts, Allan Paul
Paperback
The Great Global Transformation: The United States, China, and the Remaking of the World Economic Order
Milanovic, Branko
Hardcover
The Only Plane in the Sky (Revised and Expanded Edition for the 25th Anniversary): An Oral History of 9/11
Graff, Garrett M.
Hardcover
Two World Wars and Hitler: Who Was Responsible?: Anglo-American Money, Foreign Agents and Geopolitics
MacGregor, Jim
O'Dowd, John
Paperback
The World for Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources
Farchy, Jack
Blas, Javier
Hardcover
Kicking the Hornet's Nest: U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East from Truman to Trump
Zoughbie, Daniel E.
Hardcover
The Siege: A Six-Day Hostage Crisis and the Daring Special-Forces Operation That Shocked the World
MacIntyre, Ben
Paperback
Against Our Better Judgment: The hidden history of how the United States was used to create Israel
Weir, Alison
Paperback
Atlas of Borders: Walls, Migrations, and Conflict in 70 Maps
Papin, Delphine
Tertrais, Bruno
Hardcover
The Architect of Espionage: The Man Who Built Israel's Mossad Into the World's Boldest Intelligence Force
Katz, Samuel M.
Hardcover
The Myth of American Idealism: How U.S. Foreign Policy Endangers the World
Chomsky, Noam
Robinson, Nathan J.
Paperback
Embargo: The 1973 Oil Crisis That Changed the World (and What We Can Learn from It Now)
Delves Broughton, Philip
Hardcover
Simple Sabotage Field Manual: A Declassified CIA Guide to Subverting Fascism Through Weaponized Incompetence
Of Strategic Services, United States Office
Paperback
Israel on the Brink: And the Eight Revolutions That Could Lead to Decolonization and Coexistence
Pappé, Ilan
Hardcover
The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives
Brzezinski, Zbigniew
Paperback
G-Man (Pulitzer Prize Winner): J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century
Gage, Beverly
Paperback
Shared Prosperity in a Fractured World: A New Economics for the Middle Class, the Global Poor, and Our Climate
Rodrik, Dani
Hardcover
Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror
Carr, Jack
Scott, James M.
Paperback
Strategic Influence: Public Diplomacy, Counterpropaganda, and Political Warfare
Waller, J. Michael
Paperback
Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins
Jacobsen, Annie
Paperback
The Shortest History of War: From Hunter-Gatherers to Nuclear Superpowers - A Retelling for Our Times
Dyer, Gwynne
Paperback
The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America
Grandin, Greg
Paperback
The Hundred-Year Marathon: China's Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower
Pillsbury, Michael
Paperback
Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II
Graham, Elyse
Hardcover
The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill
Meltzer, Brad
Mensch, Josh
Paperback