A bloody warzone!!!

Nagin Lake, Scrinagar, 07-05-1994. Taking the Shikara again this morning we were confronted with harsh raelity and the simple fact that the whole of Kashmir Valley is a bloody warzone when we saw a couple of locals in their civvies guarding a small floating island that had a small wooden shed on it half hidden among the long vegetation. Both locals had a very serious looking machine gun and were stategically placed on both corners of the island. They kinda waved at us so we gave them a friendly but nervous hand waving back, most locals gliding by in their Shikaras didn`t even give them as much as a second look. At night sitting on the balconey of our house boat we are every night reminded of Kashmir`s peculiar political situation when we can hear pretty heavy fire fights in the distance with lights flashing and the occasional beam of strong laser lights. Mo and Lisa have some friends staying opposite our former house boat had a chai stop - Kashmiri tae actually which is much better as the indian catpiss the hindus mistakenly call chai - at their house boat and a little charras party to round things of.