Srinagar, Aug. 29 -- When retired Lieutenant General K.J.S. Dhillon sat down to write his autobiography,Kitne Ghazi Aaye Kitne Ghazi Gaye, he may not have realized how closely it would peek into one of India's most secretive political operations.

Dhillon, who headed the Army's strategic XV Corps in Kashmir, recounts a June 2019 breakfast meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, a discussion that, at the time, would shape the future of the region.

Shah had flown into Srinagar on June 26, 2019, to finalize the government's preparations for what would soon become the abrogation of Article 370, the constitutional provision granting Jammu and Kashmir special status.

The home minister's question was direct: "What is the guarantee that thi...