How The Indian Army Tracked Down A Kashmiri Basketball Player In A Day After Article 370 Was Revoked

After Article 370 which gave Jammu and Kashmir special status were revoked, phone and internet connections in the state were badly hit. Around that time the Wheelchair Basketball Federation of India (WBFI) was trying to get in touch with one of their players – Ishrat Akhter. The 24-year-old had made the cut for the Asia-Oceania Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Thailand, to be played in November-December this year. The tournament is a qualifier tournament for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. However, the Wheelchair basketball Federation of India had no way of getting in touch with Ishrat to let her know that she had been selected and that she had to go to Chennai for a National camp. And that’s when fate intervened and a chance conversation between two old friends changed the story. Former Navy officer Louis George is the coach of the Indian women’s wheelchair basketball team. He was talking to one of his old school friends Colonel (retired) Isenhower, who also served in the Intelligence Bureau (IB), when he mentioned Ishrat to him.