Fernanda Pirie, in her penetrating book Peace and Conflict in Ladakh, describes the way the Ladakhi effectively resolve their disputes. The question is whether their peacemaking skills can survive propaganda from the Indian Army that the way to solve problems is through military might. The Indian Army is again promoting… Continue reading…
A periodic census is supposed to maintain the peace among different groups in a state, to make sure that political realities are periodically balanced with population distributions. But sometimes the results are controversial. The Leh District of Ladakh was stunned a month ago when the preliminary results of the latest… Continue reading…
A Ladakhi woman suggests that attempts to prevent relationships between Buddhist and Muslim men and women are a poor idea, because when people from different communities get married, it creates harmony. A Ladakhi man adds that intermarriages between people of different communities and faiths are normal all over the world…. Continue reading…
A Ladakhi woman suggests that attempts to prevent relationships between Buddhist and Muslim men and women are a poor idea, because when people from different communities get married, it creates harmony. A Ladakhi man adds that intermarriages between people of different communities and faiths are normal all over the world…. Continue reading…
Since most peaceful societies exist as minorities within larger, more forceful, nation states, they are influenced by the whims, conflicts, and violence of the majority peoples. The Ladakhi, though relatively isolated in their mountain valleys, are very much part of the tensions that affect the rest of the state of… Continue reading…
The Ladakhi people are working together, with assistance from many benefactors, to rebuild from the devastation caused by floods in early August that destroyed parts of Leh and surrounding villages. Several news stories from India last week focused on the continuing problems in Ladakh, and the progress that is being… Continue reading…
Large-scale forces such as national peace movements can normally promote harmony at the local level and foster more peaceful communities. The opposite generalization often applies: that wars can promote local strife, which helps build violent societies. Developments last week in New Delhi offer hope that peace in the Indian state… Continue reading…
The peaceful Ladakhi culture will certainly survive the winter, but many inhabitants of Leh and vicinity are facing a very difficult time ahead due to the tragic mudslide of August 6th. Freak cloudbursts the night of August 5th caused a huge mudslide to devastate the city very early the following… Continue reading…
News stories in recent months about the potentially harmful effects of tourism on the peaceful Ladakhi culture may no longer be very relevant since a mudslide caused tremendous destruction in parts of Leh. The news two weeks ago about flooding and landslides in northern Pakistan and nearby regions of China… Continue reading…
A much-anticipated international music festival, part of the summer tourism calendar in Ladakh, was supposed to start today—but it was cancelled at the end of last week due to pressures from unhappy Ladakhi groups. Called Ladakh Confluence, the festival was scheduled to run through the 18th in Shey, near the… Continue reading…
