Clues to Missing Scottish Teen Could Lie with Militant Separatist Group
Her distinct accent could be the key to solving her puzzling disappearance in the Himalayas.
Then 19-year-old Alison MacDonald vanished on a backpacking trip to the Himalayas in 1981. Despite massive search efforts, including over a dozen visits to India and Pakistan by her parents, searchers never found a trace of Alison’s whereabouts. That is until searchers discovered a broadcast in which a Kashmiri separatist leader speaks in an English accent. This accent is used primarily on the Isle of Skye, Alison’s home. Searchers began asking the question — across the globe from the Scottish isle, how could a Kashmiri leader learn the Skye accent?
In the summer of 1981, while on break from Aberdeen University, Alison and friend Liz Merry took off on a whirlwind adventure to see the world. Their journey found them trekking through the Himalayas in India. Eventually, they arrived in Kashmir, a disputed territory deeply rooted in the Himalayas.
Kashmir is the only Muslim-majority region in India. It is a popular vacation spot among Indians, especially in the summertime as they become desperate to escape to heat, humidity, and claustrophobia of the subcontinent’s large southern cities. However, a significant population in…
