THE decision by the Indian Government to revoke Indian-administered Kashmir's autonomy and put it under its direct control is deeply concerning ("Kashmir on a knife edge as India’s leader sends troops to stop unrest", The Herald, August 6).
The Himalayan region of Kashmir is claimed in its entirety by both India and Pakistan, but each country controls only part of it.
The abrupt and ruthless manner in which its autonomy has been revoked, fulfilling a Hindu nationalist agenda, will undoubtedly lead to protests and inflame the resentment which has underpinned an insurgency which has cost tens of thousands of lives.
The broader reverberations in an unstable region are as worrying. Pakistan has already condemned New Delhi’s move and said it will “go to any extent” to protect Kashmiris. The two nuclear-armed neighbours have long been at odds – and at times at war – over the disputed Himalayan region.
Bill Clinton once described the ceasefire line as the most dangerous place in the world. China, which also has a territorial dispute, declared India’s actions unacceptable and void.
The consequences of revoking Kashmir’s special status is likely to be grave, extending well beyond the region, and the United Nations and other major global powers must urgently step in to defuse this incendiary situation.
Alex Orr, Edinburgh EH9.
Fluttering pleasures
LIKE Thelma Edwards (Letters, August 2), I find the simplest pleasures are often the best. Today, my 91-year-old mother and I watched, fascinated, as three painted ladies, two peacocks and a small tortoiseshell vied for space on a purple buddleia in her back garden. No, not dames of ill-repute, nor large showy birds but six small, perfectly-formed, highly-coloured butterflies chasing each other around the blooms.
It was a mesmerising display that banished thoughts of Brexit and world events from our minds for the duration, before a heavy shower chased us indoors. Not the butterflies: I don’t know where they went.
Janice Taylor, Carluke.
Children’s war work
YOUR picture of women picking potatoes in 1935 ("Race against time to keep the humble Scots tattie on the menu", The Herald, August 5) prompted me to remember some long-lost activities. When I was at school in the early1940s children were given a week off school to "tattie howk" to help the war effort. We were also asked to pick rosehips to be made into a syrup to give children vitamins.
I have a vague memory of a special moss (sphagnum perhaps) being collected to be used, I think as a substitute for cotton wool when treating war wounds.
Mrs Cecilia Hamilton, Prestwick.
Penmanship
IAN Cooper's letter today (August 7) made me smile as Robin Dow's letter (August 6) did him.
That enamel sign, "The Pickwick, the Owl and the Waverley Pen" also hung above a shop off Hunter Square in Edinburgh all those years ago, and also caught the imagination of this (then) small boy.
It echoed a world which was out of reach to a child from the housing schemes of Edinburgh in the 1950s, coming, as it did, from the mysterious world of the professions and academia of Edinburgh. The sign might well have been more than 100 years old even then.
John Jamieson, Ayr.
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