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“But in every respect a better time is now coming for the Baltis, as they are already beginning to realize; and for this they have to thank our interference in the affairs of the Kashmir State. The kanjotis who sold them as slaves will do so no longer since Colonel Durand’s successful expedition; the position we have taken up at Gilgit has put a stop to the raids of the Indus Valley tribes’ and organized transport corps will now do away with the evils of the Gilgit Road beggar; and when our settlement officer has extended work to this portion of the Maharaja’s dominion, it is to be hoped that the poor persecuted Baltis will become the happy and prosperous people they deserve to be. For this is a blameless and innocent race of men. Europeans who have traveled through their country always speak well of and remember with kindly feelings, these honest, simple, cheerful and good-natured creatures, in whose character there is much that is pathetically attractive”.

He further writes:

“The signs of extreme poverty are, indeed, manifest all over Baltistan, and there is much positive distress. Raja Ram Singh, Commander-in-Chief of the Maharaja’s Forces, recently traveled through Baltistan. On entering the country he was met by a large, doleful crowd of ragged creatures, all wailing, and carrying lit lanterns, though it was broad day light. The Raja demanded an explanation. “O Maharajah!” replied the spokesman, “our land is so darkened with suffering that we have brought lanterns, that your Highness may see how it is with us, and relieve us”.

During the British Government, Professor Rush Brook Williams was an Advisor to the Kashmir Durbar. He traveled good deal in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, partly studying the people and the country and partly doing some work for the State. He says

“The Princely House was Dogra Rajput most of the State functionaries were Hindus, prominent among them being the Kashmiri Brahmins. This small ruling class governed – and governed rather harshly – a population of just over 4 millions which was nearly 80 percent Muslim, with considerable Hindu and fractional Sikh and Buddhist minorities”.