Authors: Adrian Levy

The Meadow (76 page)

BOOK: The Meadow

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One of the first people to understand what we were trying to achieve with this book was David Housego, who still lives in New Delhi despite his family’s experiences in 1994. Special thanks also go to Kim, who we met in France, and to his mother Jenny, who has a business in Kashmir. They all spent time with us, studying maps and dredging up memories, matching the events of 1994 with those of 1995.

Special thanks go to Anette Ostrø and Marit Hesby in Norway, who welcomed us, and made the difficult decision to open up Hans
Christian’s diaries and letters anew. Also to John Childs in Vermont, who withstood many requests before finally agreeing to see us. He proved to have a near-perfect memory of all that he endured, and was straightforward and painfully honest.

At first we were nervous about contacting the families of Don, Keith, Paul and Dirk after all these years, aware that they had been hounded by the press in the past, and dragged through countless versions of the case, without ever knowing the truth.

We have huge admiration for Jane Schelly, who helped us immensely and who remains a force of life, retaining command over all of the details of the case, and whose journal throws light on the months and years of turmoil. Jane was our primary fact-checker, and also pointed us towards Ann Auerbach, whose book
Ransom: The Untold Story of International Kidnapping
contains a thorough account of the Western reaction to the crisis, and provides an invaluable reference point, capturing the desperation of those waiting for news in New Delhi and back home.

In Britain, Bob and Dianne Wells opened up their home to us, bravely sorting through many of Paul’s albums and letters to help us understand their son, spending hours recalling phone calls and newspaper articles, and the visits Bob made to India in search of the hostages.

Charlie Mangan died in 2010 without finding out what had happened to Keith, on whose behalf he travelled to Kashmir – a trip from which he never recovered. Mavis Mangan, who survives Charlie, and Julie Mangan kept in touch with us through the writing of this book but did not want to actively participate in it.

In Germany, the family of Dirk Hasert were helpful, placing his journey into a sharper context.

We respect too those relatives and friends of hostages who did not want or need to talk to us, having built new lives for themselves, and learned to cope with a crime with no closure.

Thanks also to the Middlesbrough
Gazette
, especially Paul Delplanque, who allowed us to spend hours reading cuttings.

Finally, we are grateful to all at HarperCollins, especially our
editors Arabella Pike and Robert Lacey, whose pin-sharp suggestions and revisions whipped the manuscript into shape. Thanks too to David Godwin, our agent, and all at DGA who pushed to get the book to a wide audience.

A NOTE ON SOURCES

The greatest challenge presented by this book was to write about something that could never be known. At its heart is an event that only one person survived.

We sought to fill the silence at the centre of the story by seeking out new eyewitness accounts from villagers and
jihadis
who came close to the hostages and their guards. We have also relied on a rich vein of material written by the hostages themselves, especially Hans Christian Ostrø, whose letters, annotations, doodles and poems evoke the atmosphere in the hostage camp. Villagers in remote areas of Kashmir, where the kidnappers stayed for several months, discovered many items – scripts, letters and appeals – written and then abandoned by the hostages, which they transcribed or committed to memory, and later shared with us.

Outside the world of the five captives, we sought out primary source material, including first-hand recollections of those directly involved in the hostage crisis, on both the police and the
jihadi
sides in India and Pakistan. We also made extensive use of intelligence and criminal reports, as well as transcripts of taped interviews made by the police and intelligence services in Kashmir.

The dialogue, and the quotations ascribed to individuals, have been drawn from the memories of those involved, and shown to as many parties as possible to ensure accuracy.

Some quotations ascribed to the hostages’ families have been compared to or directly extracted from interviews they gave at the time to Indian, American and British newspapers, so as to capture the
authenticity of that moment – the thoughts they had back then, rather than with the benefit of hindsight.

When we have not been able to see a specific report, letter or memo mentioned in the book, but have spoken to its author – as was the case with the many papers and memos from the al Faran file – we have indicated this by using a specific form of words, so it is clear that what is being quoted is a recollection of what was written by its author, rather than being taken directly from the paper itself.

About the Authors

ADRIAN LEVY
and
CATHY SCOTT-CLARK
are award-winning investigative journalists and film-makers who have worked as foreign correspondents, writers and producers for the
Sunday Times
, the
Guardian
and Channel 4’s
Dispatches
. They won the One World Media award for foreign reporting in 2005 and were selected as One World Media Journalists of the Year in 2009. They are currently working on their fifth book, about the 2008 attack on Mumbai. For more on
The Meadow
and the authors please see www.clarkandlevy.com

From the reviews of
The Meadow
:

‘A compelling account of the 1995 kidnapping of six westerners in Kashmir that may have sparked the rise of Islamic terrorists … Bravura reporting. Levy and Scott-Clark are nonpareil investigators’

Sunday Times

‘A staggeringly well-researched new book by two respected journalists’

PANKAJ MISHRA
,
Bloomberg

‘A superb probe … This riveting book reminds me of the best of western journalism, which in its heyday produced works of contemporary history, for it unravels every complex detail of a tragic and misunderstood story … Beautifully written’

RADHA KUMAR
,
Outlook

‘Compelling. The authors argue that the incident paved the way for the kind of terrorist tactics and kidnappings that have now become common from Pakistan to Afghanistan to Iraq. More controversially, their meticulous investigation concludes that Indian security forces knew where the hostages were throughout the ordeal, but declined to rescue them – and even sabotaged negotiations for their release – to prolong the adverse international publicity for Pakistan’

Washington Post

‘Levy and Scott-Clark deserve a lot of credit for recognising the kidnapping as the start of a new chapter. [They] produce some first-rate reporting on the ambiguous nature of the Indian authorities’ response … Meticulously researched’

SUZANNE GOLDENBERG
,
Himal Magazine

‘I haven’t read anything more terrifying than
The Meadow
, a narrative non-fiction book about a bunch of hapless tourists who go to Kashmir only to get kidnapped by militants – reading this will prepare you for a genuine worst-case holiday scenario’

Wall Street Journal

‘Gripping … raises many questions that need answers’

Hindustan Times

‘A terrific and scary story’

Spectator

‘Unputdownable. The authors bring us up close to the bone-chilling developments of the militancy-torn state … superb reading’

India Today

‘Heartstopping.
The Meadow
is clearly destined to become a landmark narrative … its publication is in itself an achievement in the exacting process of putting together the history of that tortured valley’

SANJAY KAK
,
The Caravan

‘The authors have exposed the glaring faultlines in the Indian state’s handling of the Kashmir issue … This fascinating book should be read by our policymakers and the lay-reader’

The Pioneer

‘Levy and Scott-Clark have pieced together a multi-stranded narrative … a meticulous, cold-case investigation based on a mountain of official paperwork, revitalised by a key layer of new testimony … a gripping and often emotional read’

Literary Review

By the same authors

Deception: Pakistan, the United States and
the Global Nuclear Weapons Conspiracy

The Amber Room: The Controversial Truth About
the Greatest Hoax of the Twentieth Century

The Stone of Heaven: The Secret History
of Imperial Green Jade

William Collins

An imprint of HarperCollins
Publishers

77–85 Fulham Palace Road

Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

This William Collins paperback edition published 2013

First published in Great Britain by Harper
Press
in 2012

Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Maps © Malik Sajad, kashmirblackandwhite.com

Source ISBN: 9780007368174

Ebook Edition © August 2013 ISBN: 9780007457052

Version 2

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