Full Description
This interdisciplinary volume portrays India's removal of Article 370 and of Jammu and Kashmir's special status in August 2019 as an effort to stop the suffering of its highly diverse people. While the state had been divided between the only two successor nations allowed in 1947, local people were subjected to prolonged violence by several competing external and internal stakeholders. Though the bold step of August 2019 signified acceptance by both India and Pakistan of the completion of the partition of 1947, evidence of continuing discontent and latent adherence to continuing dreams of freedom (Azadi) indicates that the current arrangement needs to be better and more widely understood as a viable peace-making effort.
The book re-traces the history of the suffering of Kashmir's people and provides an intriguing new analysis of the conflict through the plurality-conscious kite model of law and life, suggesting important policy implications. It also challenges the negative implications of international and foreign meddling in the 'Kashmir problem'.
This book will be useful to scholars, students and teachers of political science, sociology, governance, economics and development studies. It will also be an indispensable companion to scholars and general readers interested in India, especially Jammu and Kashmir, as well as those engaging with South Asian Studies.
Contents
PART I: THE ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK FOR DYNAMIC GENUINE PLURALISM IN ACTION Introduction: States, Leadership, Human Suffering and the Mythologies of Azadi 1. From Local Feudalism to Responsible Self-Governance: The Kashmir Kite 2. Flying Kashmiri Azadi Kites: Conflicts, Games or Responsible Agency? 3. Keeping It in the Family: Understanding Kashmir as an Ancestral Property Dispute PART II: CONTESTED HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL ACCOUNTS: THINGS WE KNOW AND IMPORTANT LITTLE DETAILS SOME MAY NOT WANT TO KNOW 4. Feudal Kashmir, the Princely State and Beginnings of Reform Efforts 5. Breaking the Myth of the Accession of Jammu and Kashmir 6. Legal Status of Jammu and Kashmir within the Indian Union: Reading from the Texts PART III: THE TROUBLED INTERIM PHASE OF KASHMIR (1947-2019) AND CRASHING KITES OVER SOUTH ASIA 7. Continuing Problems in Kashmir during the 21st Century 8. Pakistan's Kashmir Policy: Blocked Desires and the Search for an Honourable Exit 9. India-Bangladesh Border Issues: Tidying Up the Colonial Mess Concluding Analysis- Post-2019 Kashmir: Completing the Partition and Facing New Challenges
