Borders Without Consent: Partition Politics and the Enduring Crisis of Identity in Kashmir

Abstract

The long-standing identity crisis in Kashmir takes its origins in the politics of partition and the fact that boundaries were imposed in the region without the will of the people which is the force that is still continuing to influence political, social and cultural life in the country. This study takes a critical look at the processes of drawing of territorial boundaries in 1947 and the contested accession of the princely state and the subsequent state practices in the post-1947 period of Kashmir which have created and reproduced identity conflicts across Kashmiri communities. Drawing on the postcolonial theory of the border and identity frameworks, the study place Kashmir in a paradigmatic position of how the historical and cultural connections can be cut, the indigenous agency can be degraded and the political exclusion can become established. Via an interpretative qualitative analysis of archival material, policy reports, and academic writings, this article unravels the geopolitical games of the India-Pakistan antagonism, the experienced reality of identity fragmentation and how state practices contaminate the creation of political subjectivities. Results indicate that the unresolved status of the Kashmir boundaries which is frequently justified without the approval of the population contributes to a crisis of belonging and belonging which cannot be simply addressed through the idea of territorial resolutions. The use of a sophisticated view of the functioning of nonconsensual partition politics in keeping identity battles going and the offering of possibilities of refiguring peace processes with Kashmiri agency and voice makes the study advance the border and conflict scholarship.