Kashmir is integral to Indian tradition, says Karan Singh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 11

Claiming that he had mixed feelings about the prevailing situation in Jammu & Kashmir, former Rajya Sabha member Karan Singh today said the talk of development in the state would be a reality “only if Dal Lake was restored to its original expanse”.

Speaking as chief guest at a function for the release of a book, ‘Emperor of Kashmir: Lalitaditya The Great’, Singh insisted he would not speak on the current situation in the state as today’s event was related to J&K’s history.

Noting that Kashmir was an integral part of the Indian tradition, he said, “Emperor Lalitaditya is no less important than the greats of Chandragupta Maurya and Vikramaditya. It was due to his contribution that India’s territory touched China.” Singh exhorted historians to write about his ancestors, the Dogra dynasty, which ruled J&K for nearly 100 years.

Former J&K Governor NN Vohra, who presided over the function, said like others, he too “hoped and prayed that normalcy returned to the state as soon as possible”.

Introducing the book, author Sanjay Sonawani said people knew little about the pre-Islamic Kashmir history. “To understand contemporary facts, we need to know the history of a particular region and the same is true in case of Kashmir, whose history goes beyond 1947,” he noted.