Colonizing Kashmir : State-Building Under Indian Occupation

Hafsa Kanjwal

ISBN 10: 1503635384 / ISBN 13: 9781503635388

Published by Stanford University Press Jul 2023, 2023

About this Item

Neuware - 'The Indian government, touted as the world's largest democracy, often repeats that Jammu and Kashmir--its only Muslim-majority state--is 'an integral part of India.' The region, which is disputed between India and Pakistan, and is considered the world's most militarized zone, has been occupied by India for over seventy years. In this book, Hafsa Kanjwal interrogates how Kashmir was made 'integral' to India through a study of the decade long rule (1953-1963) of Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, the second Prime Minister of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Drawing upon a wide array of bureaucratic documents, propaganda materials, memoirs, literary sources, and oral interviews in English, Urdu, and Kashmiri, Kanjwal examines the intentions, tensions, and unintended consequences of Bakshi's state-building policies in the context of a colonial occupation in a moment of Indian decolonization. She reveals how the state government tailored its policies to empower Kashmir's Muslims while also showing how these policies were marked by inter-religious tension, corruption, and political repression. Challenging the binaries of colonial and postcolonial, Kanjwal historicizes India's occupation of Kashmir through processes of emotional integration, development, normalization, and empowerment to highlight the new hierarchies of power and domination that emerged in the aftermath of decolonization. In doing so, she urges us to question the sovereignty claims of India, as well as the modern nation-state'--.

Seller Inventory # 9781503635388

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Colonizing Kashmir : State-Building Under Indian Occupation
• Publisher: Stanford University Press Jul 2023
• Publication Date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1503635384
• ISBN 13: 9781503635388
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 231W x 155H x 28D millimeters 231 millimeters width by 155 millimeters height by 28 millimeters depth
• Weight: 658 grams

About this title

Synopsis

The Indian government, touted as the world's largest democracy, often repeats that Jammu and Kashmir―its only Muslim-majority state―is "an integral part of India." The region, which is disputed between India and Pakistan, and is considered the world's most militarized zone, has been occupied by India for over seventy-five years. In this book, Hafsa Kanjwal interrogates how Kashmir was made "integral" to India through a study of the decade long rule (1953-1963) of Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, the second Prime Minister of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Drawing upon a wide array of bureaucratic documents, propaganda materials, memoirs, literary sources, and oral interviews in English, Urdu, and Kashmiri, Kanjwal examines the intentions, tensions, and unintended consequences of Bakshi's state-building policies in the context of India's colonial occupation. She reveals how the Kashmir government tailored its policies to integrate Kashmir's Muslims while also showing how these policies were marked by inter-religious tension, corruption, and political repression.

Challenging the binaries of colonial and postcolonial, Kanjwal historicizes India's occupation of Kashmir through processes of emotional integration, development, normalization, and empowerment to highlight the new hierarchies of power and domination that emerged in the aftermath of decolonization. In doing so, she urges us to question triumphalist narratives of India's state-formation, as well as the sovereignty claims of the modern nation-state.

About the Author

Hafsa Kanjwal is Assistant Professor of History at Lafayette College.