一
Editorials
The police state
SCENE: a dark night on a Metro City expressway.
THE CHARACTERS: a retired Marine colonel and a policeman. (As the scene opens the Colonel is driving his automobile. He looks into his rear-view mirror and sees a flashing red light. A siren whines through the pre-dawn night. Fear and guilt feelings rush through the Colonel. Suddenly his pleasant drive is disrupted by an arm of the law. The radio's soft music is drowned out by the siren. The Colonel shakily pulls his automobile to the side of the road and sees that the policeman has driven up behind him. The siren stops and the policeman walks to the colonel's car.)
★ ★ ★
Colonel: (rolling down his window) What is it?
Policeman: Okay, buddy, what ya' doin' out so late? Don't ya' know it's time for all good citizens to be in bed?
Colonel: Well . . . ah . . . I . . . I was just driving home. I live in Pottsville and I'm returning there after a trip to Solon.
Policeman: This time a night, you're drivin' home clear to Pottsville?
Colonel: Sir, you know I've been stopped twice tonight in this one city. What's with you guys?
Policeman: It's not your duty to worry about policemen. We worry about you and the people we protect.
Colonel! But what do you want me for? I haven't done anything.
Policeman: Mind if I look through your car, bud?
**Colonel:** I guess it would be all right. Sure.
Go ahead.
(The Colonel steps out of his car and fidgets nervously with his hands. The policeman takes a flashlight out of its holder and looks through the car, poking at the roof lining and peering under the seats. It is apparent the Colonel is really scared.)
Policeman: (finished with his search of the interior). Mind if I take a look in your trunk? Looks like it's nearly dragging on the road. Last guy I checked, he had a safe in his trunk. Now, open it up, buddy.
Policeman: A search warrant! A search warrant! You tellin' me to get a search warrant when your car is so damn low it almost scrapes the asphalt? Look, buddy, what have you got in that trunk?
Colonel: I think you should show me a search warrant.
Colonel: (visibly agitated) I don't think it is any of your business, my friend. Look, if you're lonely and tired of driving around all night without any crime to investigate why don't you and I go have a cup of coffee and talk for awhile. I could use a cup and . . .
Policeman: (interrupting) Now, look, if you don't want to open up that trunk I'm goin' to take you down to the station!
Policeman: You aren't goin' anywhere, bud. Get in the patrol car and let's go.
Colonel: I know my rights. You aren't taking me anywhere. Goodnight. (He starts for his car but the policeman stops him.)
(The patrol car rushes down the highway. The Colonel's car, its trunk full of fatigue uniforms, letters, and mementos of Viet Nam, sits idly by the highway in the dead stillness of the night.)
'Urban Nation'shows America in Change
- Larry Ketchum
THE URBAN NATION, 1920-1960, by George E. Mowry (Hill and Wang, $5).
A teacher in almost any discipline rapidly learns that if there is one period in U.S. history that is a mystery to his students it is the recent one. Books like this new history may help to remedy the problem.
For George E. Mowry sets out to give us a picture of America in the period since World War I. This is a tall order, but in terms of the "Making of America" series of Hill and Wang it is satisfactory, for this series is somewhat specialized. Intricate and intimate details are eschewed in favor of broad strokes.
So we have here a picture of the United States growing from rural to urban country, of the frustrations felt by many as the good old days slipped away, of the depression and the New Deal that followed the golden twenties, and of the recent days when the old and simple solutions no longer could be applied to problems of cities and cold war and our new role in the world.
An excellent history, by and large, short enough to satisfy many readers, comprehensive in what the author sets out to do. It is no "America as a Civilization," but it is a good picture of a nation being changed.
We were thinking...
To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.
William Henry Channing
Amid calm beauty, turmoil rages in Kashmir
Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir, like Venice is a city of canals. Brick and wood buildings line the banks of the Jhelum River in the heart of the Vale of Kashmir. Centuries-old mogul gardens, flower beds, pavilions, fountains, and waterfalls dot the city. In the canals Kashmiris drift lazily in their gondola-like shikaras. But like a translucent cover, these superficialities only partially hide from view the undercurrents of tension that flow through the city.
IF ONE TOOK a few turns down the narrow streets and arrived at the heart of the city, he could see the real Srinagar. Night brings fear to the unarmed Kashmiri. At dusk, the women hastily gather the children into the safety of the home and the generally bustling city seems to come to a standstill.
With one good look, it is easy to spot the marching soldiers and army trucks; and closer scrutiny will reveal camouflaged gun emplacements. Here and there, scribbled on the walls and buildings, are the words, "Plebiscite our Demand."
The demand for a plebiscite has provoked a repetition of history for Kashmir. The present conflict and the one 18 years ago have both involved Kashmir's freedom, yet the fighting exists mainly between Kashmir's two neighbors, India and Pakistan.
ALTHOUGH KASHMIR is 80 per cent Moslem, the country has fallen under Hindu rule, that of Sir Hari Singh specifically, and is subject to both political and religious restrictions. According to Hindu law, the consumption of beef, a basic Moslem food, may be just cause to imprison anyone caught eating it for seven years. The only portion of Kashmir that has not fallen victim to the Indian government is the northwestern third of Kashmir, gained by Pakistan in the first UN cease-fire agreement.
The northwestern third of Kashmir is dense with snowy mountain valleys interspersed with lakes surrounded by pink lotus and purple saffron blossoms. The valleys are populated by more than two million Moslems who live in scattered villages and occupy themselves with the same livelihood as their ancient forefathers.
THESE TALL, ERECT people, who have the blood of Alexander the Great in their veins, have resisted Hindu rule for centuries. They look to the temporary capital of Muzafarabad, nestled between two rivers. But the people do not regard it as their true capital. Most of the Moslem inhabitants wait for the day when they can be united with the other Moslems and return to their traditional capital of Srinagar.
In 1947 both India and Pakistan fought over the right to govern Kashmir. After 14 months of unsuccessful fighting, the UN arranged for a cease-fire under which Pakistan received one-third of the country and India the richer two-thirds. However, when India was given Kashmir, it was with the condition that a plebiscite be pending, that some day the Kashmiris themselves would decide which
country they wished to join. Eighteen years have elapsed and India has given Kashmir no hint of a coming plebiscite. Last December, Indian officials issued the statement that Kashmir is an integral part of the Indian state and that Pakistan must fight or lose Kashmir forever. Indian Prime Minister Shastri said, "Kashmir is part and parcel of India . . . no power on earth can force us to surrender it." Pakistan responded to the challenge and again India and Pakistan are fighting, continuously violating the relatively ineffective 1,500-mile UN cease-fire.
TODAY'S CONFLICT over Kashmir has new and more frightening implications. The entry of Red China into the action has stirred both the United States and Soviet Russia to the fear that no matter what the outcome of the dispute, China may benefit from the results. Both powers fear that any intervention by China may turn the dispute into a world conflict. The USSR also is anxious to prevent Communist China from undermining Soviet prestige in Asia, which it soon may accomplish.
While China has not been openly aggressive it has made no attempt to ease fighting and appears to be urging Pakistan on to more fighting. Another prominent factor that cannot be overlooked is that in 1963 China signed a border pact with Pakistan and got a small portion of northern Kashmir from the bargain. In return Pakistan indicated that in event of war, the Chinese would provide military intervention for Pakistan.
CHINA HAS FURTHER aggravated India with real or imagined protests of Indian aggression in Chinese territory and the establishment of arms fortresses along the Sikkim-Tibet border. Sikkim is a protectorate of India which borders on the Chinese-controlled Tibet. Minor skirmishes between India and Chinese soldiers arose in this area. Although China has made no major advance in the dispute, her darting appearance into the picture has been sufficient to warrant alarm from both the U.S. and Russia, not for the present security but what it may signal for the future.
While Indians, Pakistani, and the Kashmiri are losing men in battle, it is the common people of Kashmir that are suffering. They are torn between obedience to the Indian government which may be adverse to their religious practices and to their fellow countrymen who are fighting for the right to be governed by the country of their choice.
THE SKIRMISHES IN the villages and the capital are interrupting the Kashmiri way
"Re L
of life, not the Indian or the Pakistani. One old Kashmiri peasant woman drew an American aside and whispered half fearfully, "Tell them in America we want to be free." The Kashmiri want to be free—free now to make their own decisions and free to worship their native religion without fear of imprisonment or punishment. As the Pakistan-controlled Kashmir waits to be rejoined with its traditional capital of Kashmir, so all of Kashmir waits to be joined with the country that is sympathetic to its beliefs and ways of life.
When India was granted the lushest two-thirds of Kashmir, it was granted with the condition that Kashmir would be given the right to a plebiscite. And now, with no intention of granting the small country a plebiscite, India has violated Kashmir's ethical right to choose its own government. By making the decision, India has resparked a conflict that may draw more implications than it had bargained for and lead to future disaster extending beyond the realm of India, Pakistan, and Kashmir.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Jane Larson
THE UNIVERSITY DRIE
kansan
Serving KU for 76 of its 100 Years
UNiversity 4-3646, newsroom
UNiversity 4-3198, business office
West on a 5- stands cilities and fao eran C
Founded 1889
Represented by National Advertising Service, 18 East 50 St., New York, N.Y. 10022. Mail subscription rates: $4 a semester or $7 a year. Published and second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the University year except Saturday and Sundays, University holidays and examination periods. Accommodations, goods, services and employment advertised in the University Daily Kansan are offered to all students without regard to color, creed or national origin.
The describ-
"The c
client
rence
where
fit into
a chur
with a
interes
a reali
STE in a " tion a served studen
EXECUTIVE STAFF
MANAGING EDITOR Judy Farrell
BUSINESS MANAGER Ed Vaughn
EDITORIAL EDITORS Janet Hamilton, Karen Lambert