Kashmir has always loomed large in the national consciousness. It has been a symbol of humanism, possessing a unique identity and culture which preserved it from the bloodshed committed in the name of religion elsewhere in the country after Partition. And its beauty, praised by kings, commoners - and film-makers - has made it the receptacle for our dreams.

But a shadow, which the passage of time has only served to deepen, has fallen over Kashmir. Since the eighties, when a latent secessionism, fuelled by maladroit political manoeuvring and administrative bungling, turned into a fuill-blown movement for azadi, resulting in the full exercise of the state's might, thousands have died, normal life has been disrupted, and the economy is in a shambles. Innocent citizens have fallen, caught between the guns of militants and govenment troops, and the state's minority Kashmiri Pandit population has fled, scared by the Islamic fundamentalist wave that has swept the Valley.

In this compelling, hands-on account of why Kashmir has come so close to the edge, Tavleen Singh unravels the complexities of its recent history to expose the political machinations, corruption and downright ineptitude that have alienated the Kashmiris from their mother country. As a journalist who has covered the Valley since 1981 she has met virtually everyone connected with the course of events, from national political leaders and the incumbents of Raj Bhavan to the unemployed youth and the militant leaders themselves, and in Kashmir: A Tragedy of Errors she uses this first-hand knowledge of the situation to present a view of it that has not been seen before.