Srinagar, April 19 -- It began quietly. A whisper. A piece of sacred history had gone missing. On a chilly December morning in 1963, people in Srinagar woke up to news that the Prophet's relic, kept for centuries in the Hazratbal Shrine, was gone. No one knew exactly how it happened, but everyone felt it.

This wasn't just a theft. It was a wound. One that spread throughout Kashmir, affecting every Kashmiri. The relic wasn't simply a religious symbol. It was part of the heartbeat of the people, woven deeply into their identity and their complicated relationship with the state. Khalid Bashir Ahmad'sKashmir: Shock, Fury, Turmoildoesn't start with the dry recounting of a crime. It begins with the silence that followed the loss, an unsettling...