The author Abhay Narayan Sapru is definitely in a good position to write about what is happening in the valley of Kashmir having served in the Special Forces, Indian Army. He has tried to bring his experiences alive through his novel, In the Valley of Shadows.
The novel is set in the stunning Lolab Valley of Kashmir. This place that is akin to paradise is often ripped apart by violence and bloodshed. Entwined in the militant encounters, where both personal and professional histories abound, are the lives of the people who actually live in this part of the world. They form the third and most marginalised side of the triangle that is Kashmir today. The other two sides are quite powerful, resourceful and as a result bold and cocky, and these are the army and the foreign mujahids or fighters. At the end of the novel the question still nags the reader, who wants this fight? Do the people of the valley really want it? In a novel that spans a year, Sapru gives the reader a good look into how enmities are formed and settled in this part of the valley, however the voices of the people of the valley remain more or less silent.
He presents to the reader the foreign militant, Sher Khan, in a romantic sort of way. He is a dashing buccaneer and has a woman whom he loves and is all set to retire and leave the trade for. Hence it appears in the actual telling of the tale, Sapru could not break free of his image of foreign jihadis and has portrayed the main jihadi character in his book as somewhat soft and human, belying his words of how he says they are in real life. Since real life and fiction criss-cross often in the book, it becomes hard to understand what is the real situation and what is a fantasised, fictionalised version. All the reader wants is one consistent view and this was hard to find in the case of the jihadi mujahid fighters, who are battling it out in the valley on behalf of Pakistan.
The army was well represented and there were flaws as well as flamboyance in the portrayal. They were not shown to be constant heroes. In fact when they botch up operations, it was clearly mentioned and the local Kashmiri militant is the one who scoffs at them and tells them so. In that sense the story seems to be true rather than lopsided in favour of the army.
The local population comes across as the weakest part of the story. The girl Sahira and the barber-turned-mujahid Javed Jabbar are representatives of this section of the populace. Javed is a cold-blooded psychopath killer, who has been scarred by rejection of his love for a woman. The path of violence he pursues is because he is a jilted man and a nobody, rather than due to a strong belief in the freedom of Kashmir. This is a case of an individual getting crossbred with the readily available violence in the valley and the result is a formidable and sly fighter fighting on the side of the enemy. Thus one wonders how many men fighting in Kashmir today are doing it for the wrong reasons and whether jihad is a convenient blanket they throw over their innate violent and bloodthirsty tendencies.
Sahira, the only feminine relief in this rugged book, is a local Kashmiri woman silently suffering the ravages of constant war. However, she is shown to be equally pre-disposed to a foreign militant and an armyman. It becomes confusing as to what she actually thinks and it can be irritating to the reader when she keeps switching sides and loyalty. Again this is a weak portrayal of people most affected by the destructive war in Kashmir. Initially, Sahira is shown to be a spirited woman and indeed a promising character. However, in just a year, which is how long the narrative runs, she becomes old and despondent and a victim of all that happens around her.
The narrative is short and crisp and engaging because of its brevity. The author has not indulged in long and unnecessary explanations of the situations. As a result there is action almost on every page, even if in some places it becomes a little predictable. The quotes at the beginning of each chapter become distracting from the gut-wrenching fast-paced story and one wishes they were not there. They break the flow of the story and are soon ignored.