This is a book about the Kashmir valley - lacerated, wrathful, aflame. The authors travelled across it in the winter of 2016, during a journey undertaken in a spirit of solidarity with the people of the region. It is a disturbing account of children blinded by pellet guns, of a government in a bitter state of undeclared war with its own civilian populations, of the rage of stone-throwing youth and the hubris of military generals. The book also attempts a concise history of the conflict in the valley and makes a strong plea for humanity, for fairness, and for justice. The authors argue, there should be no denying a just peace to the embattled people of the valley. The concluding words of the book sum it up precisely: 'We are told that a nation cannot be strong if it is ethical or compassionate; that these are despicable signs of weakness; that a strong state is a state that is without morality or mercy. Who will tell them how wrong they are? That it is only the weak who fell those who are weaker, whose hearts are empty of mercy, who celebrate the weeping of children. The truly strong are those who have the courage to be kind and just.' |
