Ihave seen Ladakh in its stillest hours: Dawn breaking over Pangong Lake, prayers whispered at Thiksey Monastery, markets closing in Kargil. To wake up in that extraordinary calm in Leh, and then to walk across to hear His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, during one of his annual visits, is to understand how inspiration and serenity coexist in this fragile frontier.

To imagine this stillness broken by gunfire is to feel the fragility of our republic’s peripheries; four dead in the recent eruption of violence cannot be dismissed as a mere law and order issue. Ladakh has given India its warriors, its faith, and its trust. A frontier that has stood by India deserves nothing less. Delhi , to its credit, has always recognised Ladakh’s unique place in the republic and must now redouble its efforts w

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