A free and armed populace? A Newsweek story on the conflict in Kashmir:

Haseena, 17, is the oldest. She says soldiers marched away with her 21-year-old brother and her 19-year-old sister. “We told them we weren’t registered to vote here, and anyway, they couldn’t force us,” she says. “But they wouldn’t listen.” Asked why local people didn’t want to vote, she averts her dark eyes. A small boy pipes up: “If they vote during the day, the militants will come at night and chop our heads.”

I have an easy solution to prevent citizens from being intimidated by the militants-the Indian army should pass out automatic rifles to families in rural areas of the Vale. After all, if the people want to be part of India, they have nothing to fear.