IF PEACE DOES NOT PREVAIL

    If peace does not prevail because of our ego and stubbornness, because of our determination to defend our territory and sovereignty irrespective of consequences – we face the risk of war. Even small skirmishes may lead to a full-fledged war. This can and must be avoided at all cost.

   As the final hour toward that fate approaches the leadership of the world's two largest populated countries must re-think their decisions to go to war and avoid any move that would ultimately lead to a nuclear disaster on this planet.

    Sikkim – a sacred, hidden land, the last frontier of peace in the Himalaya – now faces the risk of being turned into a battlefield. If peace does not prevail in the Himalayan frontier it is not only because of those who are bent on destroying each other because of their hatred and greed and their lust for power, it is also because of our fate and destiny. The coming situation will remind us that “the peace of the grave or security of the slave” that we have witnessed in Sikkim in the past several decades will not last forever.

   On April 15, 1975, the Hindustan Times warned: “Security depends on people, not territory.” This applies to both India and China.