Articles by Gautam Navlakha

If the State cares for the people of India, it ought to know that without a radical change in its approach towards internal security, saving on pensionary benefits as well as improving the compensation package for military personnel would amount to a mere tinkering that will not travel far.

By projecting that Pakistan is the source of our troubles it is implied that, but for that country's support for terrorism, things would be hunky-dory. Such an approach diverts attention from looking at where the Indian state has gone wrong. There is a dire need to get away from the obsessive focus on Pakistan and begin to look inwards in order to rectify wrongs which exist - gross injustices perpetrated against our own people.

The brutal suppression of the peaceful mass protests that swept across Kashmir in August has restored New Delhi's "control" of the Valley. The centre may have won this battle, but it has lost the war and if it was not apparent before it should be obvious now that the people of Kashmir no longer have faith in the constitutional processes. The allocation of land for the Amarnath yatra controversy that triggered an explosion first in Kashmir and then led to agitations in the Jammu division, and the State's differential response to the demonstrations in these two parts of Jammu and Kashmir have signalled a message to the people in the Valley that they cannot expect justice and dignity from an increasingly communalised state apparatus.

The origins of the conflagration in June in Kashmir on forest land allocation for construction of facilities for the Amarnath yatra lie in open state promotion of the pilgrimage. The yatra has caused considerable damage to the economy and ecology of the area. The high-handed actions of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board only aggravated the situation.

Violent Activism: A Psychological Study of Ex-Militants in Jammu and Kashmir by Shobna Sonpar;