[IAC#RG] Think before you act, and study before you think.

So then,  do you want the rest of India to overrun Kashmir with even more armed forces to suppress the  resistance there ?  You want to bring oppressive Dogra and Pandey rule back to Kashmir again?  The Dogras never forgave Sheikh Abdullah for carrying out land reforms to give 'land to the tiller', mainly against their own humongously large estates in the only  riyasat which actually implemented land reforms. Hence the vilification campaign against him in the media and North Block which led to his incarceration by Nehru.

And do you think China and Pakistan will sit back as the genocide,  the blinding of babies and schoolgirls, killing of innocent unarmed civilians intensifies?  You may 'win'  the beautiful Valley,  but we may lose the whole of Arunachal,  cutting off the rest of the NE from the Indian subcontinent. Its happened before.  China has already taken over a huge strategic part of the Maharaja's erstwhile state. I agree Nehru messed up by not trusting  the Army and going to the UN but politicians of all colors were callow first-timers then, inexperienced and totally unprepared for those events.

What if this 'terror attack' was indeed nothing but a well engineered false flag plot,  as so many observers are saying,  to sacrifice a few hapless jawans for political and other gains,  a perfect pre-election strategy used by criminals,  aided by our Intelligence Guru and MFN,  Israel ?

Having had three generations of male relatives in the army, I can't be accused of being 'anti-national'. My mama,  Monty Palit,  then a Major,  was the first Indian Army officer to land in Leh to secure Ladakh from the raiders. Major Sharma a family friend, died defending Srinagar. My grandfather,  an IMS surgeon in WW1 went to Kashmir every year in the '30s and witnessed the rapacious looting of its resources and suppression of basic human rights during the Maharaja's reign. And did you forget that it was the Maharaja,  his Dogra courtiers and Kashmiri Pandits who did not want to accede to India?  The Muslim poor were voiceless till the Sheikh came on the scene.

My father,  an ICS who worked under Sardar Patel and later was Secy. to the SRC, continued to consult his daughter Maniben after his death and he would host meetings of  fervent Sheikh Abdulla supporter Mridulaben, sister of Vikram Sarabhai (ISRO founder, in case you didn't know). Many  Indian freedom fighters supported the Sheikh's vision of Naya Kashmir.  Ethnic and religious minorities can't seem to integrate with India's 'mainstream', which remains a communal,  unsecular, racist,   hierarchical and elite dominated polity and society. Only true patriots want their country to be less socially stratified, more egalitarian,  just and law abiding, in short,  in accord with the Directive Principles of our Constitution.

As for Article 370...the benefits of keeping it,  drawbacks of withdrawing it,  have been studied by numerous scholars. It was the Kashmiri pundits who wanted it and  the basis on which J&K acceded to the Union.  Please read an unbiased selection of these reports. Repealing it could lead to the whole population going into a suicidal confrontation with India - with the  help of what a previous NDA Defence Minister called India's Enemy No. 1.

Kindly explain to us who you represent,  what vision you have for J&K including for vulnerable Ladakh,  POK,  and the area's adjacent Indian states. No Indian Himalayan state wants hostile territory on its border.

Joya Roy
Former Editor,  Institute of Social Sciences,  New Delhi