THE EARLY-1990 KASHMIRI MUSLIMS’ UPRISING’S ENDOGENOUS BASIS: EXPLORING THE ETHNO-CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS ROOTS

Outline

1. INTRODUCTION
2. THE IDENTITY DEBATE IN INDIA AND IN KASHMIR
3. ETHNO-CULTURAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN COMMUNITIES: PANDITS VERSUS MUSLIMS
4. RELIGIOUS CLEVAGE WITHIN COMMUNITY: MUSLIM SECT VERSUS MUSLIM SECT
5. CONFLICT BETWEEN COMPETING PARADIGMS OF NATIONALISM AND IDENTITY
6. THE RESURGENCE OF HINDU RELIGIOUS NATIONALISM IN INDIA
7. THE RISE OF THE KJ, OF KASHMIR’S MIRWAIZ, THE RESURGENCE OF ISLAMIC CONSCIOUSNESS IN KASHMIR, AND EROSION OF KASHMIRI-NESS
8. CONCLUSION

THE EARLY-1990 KASHMIRI MUSLIMS’ UPRISING’S ENDOGENOUS BASIS: EXPLORING THE ETHNO-CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS ROOTS

Author: Abu Taher Salahuddin Ahmed

DOI Link: https://www.doi.org/10.56888/BIISSj2009v30n4a1

ABSTRACT

There are multiple endogenous and exogenous roots of the early-1990 Kashmiri Muslims’ uprising. This paper examines its endogenous basis, exploring its ethno-cultural and religious roots. In so doing, it studies whether Kashmiri identity has been contextualised, and whether in the 1980s there has been a marked ascendancy of the religious component of that identity over its ethno-cultural component. It probes into whether this marked ascendancy is a function of the politicisation of Islam in Kashmir, or Islamisation of Kashmiri politics, or both. Findings suggest that the identity question remains exceedingly contextualised, as it is determined by the given time and situation. There is no monolithic identity in Kashmir. Kashmiriyat, as a composite identity, has become questionable. Historically, religion has played a key identity marker in the identity formation of Kashmir, and in the early 1980s resurfaced with the emergence of Islamist forces. These forces led to the ascendancy of Muslim-nessover Kashmiri-ness, and eventually Islam became a powerful tool for mobilising Kashmiri Muslims against the Indian authorities. This ascendancy was a result of a fair degree of Islamisation of Kashmiri polities, which occurred after 1970.

BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

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