India, Sept. 27 -- At a time when China is breathing down India's neck and the Government of India is investing heavily in building strategic infrastructure - roads, bridges, and airstrips - to thwart Beijing's expansionist designs, internal unrest in Ladakh is the last thing the country can afford. A flare-up along the McMahon Line in Arunachal Pradesh or on the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh weakens India's defence posture.

At such a critical juncture, domestic turbulence in Ladakh is neither in the public interest nor in the nation's security interest. For Ladakhis, preserving their tribal identity has always been paramount. Their history shows that whenever their ethnicity or rights came under threat, they rose in protest. Traditio...