Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Maps and Images
- Acknowledgements
- Map
- Introduction
- 1 Kashmir: The Idea and its Parts
- 2 Conceptualizing a Borderland Approach to Kashmir
- 3 Urban Areas Near the LoC (I)
- 4 Urban Areas Near the LoC (II): The ‘Kashmir Issue’ in Skardu and Kargil
- 5 The Line… the People
- Conclusion: The Politics of Belonging in the Kashmir Borderland
- Acronyms
- References
- Index
4 - Urban Areas Near the LoC (II): The ‘Kashmir Issue’ in Skardu and Kargil
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 November 2020
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Maps and Images
- Acknowledgements
- Map
- Introduction
- 1 Kashmir: The Idea and its Parts
- 2 Conceptualizing a Borderland Approach to Kashmir
- 3 Urban Areas Near the LoC (I)
- 4 Urban Areas Near the LoC (II): The ‘Kashmir Issue’ in Skardu and Kargil
- 5 The Line… the People
- Conclusion: The Politics of Belonging in the Kashmir Borderland
- Acronyms
- References
- Index
Summary
Abstract
Skardu and Kargil are sparsely populated cities that are formally located in the disputed territory, but their residents do not feel part of the conflict and state that they suffer ‘because of the Valley’. Civilians from these areas have not participated in the dynamics of violence and confrontation between the Indian and Pakistani armies. However, their locations near the LoC create a precarious existence for urban dwellers on both sides because they are subjected to restrictive rules that affect their basic rights and their loyalty to the nation is often questioned. The perspective on the conflict from these ‘marginal’ sites underscores the interwoven character of the dispute. Despite ongoing bordering processes and the long-term dispute that has reinforced social borders between groups, cities in the Kashmir borderland can still be seen as socially diverse places.
Keywords: Kashmir issue, Skardu, Kargil, peripheries, social heterogeneity, Immobility
Not all the places that are involved in the Kashmir dispute have the same importance for the states of India and Pakistan and for an eventual agreement on a territorial settlement. As has been described in the previous chapter, the Kashmir Valley plays a central role and AJK is tightly linked to the conflict, but other areas such as Gilgit-Baltistan and Ladakh can be considered marginal. This does not mean that they are not affected by the conflict dynamics – they are, though in a different way – but the people living in these territories do not feel attached to the political problems in the Kashmir Valley and AJK. Residents of Skardu and Kargil are aware that the dispute is ‘because of the Valley’ and generally see themselves as having a marginal role in the whole question despite suffering from it.
There are cultural and social differences that explain this situation, apart from the incapacity of Kashmiri nationalism to mobilize people in these areas to undertake a united political project. For those in Baltistan and Ladakh, the link with Kashmir is their conquest by the Dogra chiefs of Jammu and then, after the formation of the princely state, their incorporation as part of that political entity.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Kashmir as a BorderlandThe Politics of Space and Belonging across the Line of Control, pp. 119 - 138Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2019