| Summary/Abstract |
This article focuses on the contested region of Kashmir and investigates how the nation-building project that accompanied the partition of the South Asian subcontinent, along with the creation of the ceasefire line that divided the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan, shaped the question of belonging for the majority of its Muslim inhabitants, especially from the 1940s to the 1960s. It reveals the bureaucratic procedures put in place by the new nation-states, both driven by the question of self-determination pending in the United Nations and devoid of human considerations, made Kashmiris apprehensive about the motivations of both states. The article argues that Kashmiri belonging after partition did not seamlessly merge into the national identities of India or Pakistan. Instead, the anxieties of partition and structural challenges created by the arbitrary ceasefire line shaped Kashmir Muslim perceptions. Drawing from intercepted letters, pamphlets, and biographies, this article reveals the irrelevance of such artificial ‘borders’ in the Kashmiri psyche. In the process, it asserts that the Kashmiri demand for self-determination became intertwined with the desire for the reunification of the old princely state that would promote human-to-human contact, reopen old trade routes, and promote economic self-sufficiency.
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