Security Community in South Asia by Muhammad Shoaib Pervez

Author:Muhammad Shoaib Pervez [Pervez, Muhammad Shoaib]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Asia, India & South Asia
ISBN: 9780415531504
Google: ha5-6udOXeAC
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-01-15T15:54:50+00:00

'Kashmiriyat': the essence of an indigenous identity of Kashmir

This section will explore the identity of Kashmir independent of the parameters designed by Indian and Pakistani elites. The Kashmir problem emerged due to the convergence of three factors. Varshney identifies these as: ‘religious nationalism represented by Pakistan, secular nationalism epitomized by India, and ethnic nationalism embodied in what Kashmiris call Kashmiriyat’ (Varshney 1991: 999). Kashmir has a specific culture and identity of its own. The history of Kashmir from medieval times until the present is important for uncovering certain peculiar socio-cultural norms broadly subsumed under the rubric of ‘Kashmiriyat’. Kashmir was dominated by four centuries of ‘imperial rule, from Mughal (1586 1757) and Afghan (1757–1819) to Sikh (1819–1846) and Dogra (1846–1947)’ (Cockell 2000: 326). Therefore, the desire for self-rule has always been the core ‘valuational’ determinant for the identity of Kashmir (Cockell 2000). ‘The essence of Kashmiriyat ethnicity is the network of socio-cultural, historical and linguistic ties that bound all Kashmiris, regardless of religion, into an interdependent social collective’ (Cockell 2000: 327).

During the rule of the Dogra Raj, the Kashmir valley remained geographically isolated from the rest of the subcontinent. This helps to explain why the Kashmiri identity is different from the identity of the Muslims and the Hindus of the subcontinent. While in the subcontinent religious differences and divergent cultures led to a communal divide, in Kashmir, religious diversity has created a common collective identity. As I will explain below, this identity complex has four distinct components which include religious tolerance, desire for freedom, socio-cultural distinctiveness and linguistic similarity.

The religious norms include ‘rishi’ which focused on the development of ‘mutual tolerance and non-orthodox devotion’ especially among co-religionists, the Hindus and the Muslims (Cockell 2000: 327). It is ironic that in contrast to other regions in India, the spread of Islam was peacefully introduced to the Kashmir by mystics and Sufis referred to as ‘Rishis’ (Khan 1994). Muslim rule in Kashmir was established without any bloodshed. Islam was propagated peacefully through the efforts of Mir Sayyid Ali and his followers in the medieval period (Bazaz 2003). The reason behind this is that Sufism in Islam and Shaivism ‘Trika’ of the Hindus in Kashmir were akin to each other (Bazaz 2003). Both focused on respect for co-religionists and they believed in ‘religious Humanism’ (Khan 1994). In Kashmir, the saints of Islam are revered by both Hindus and Muslims alike, e.g., Lalla, Lal Ded, Sheikh Norruddin, called ‘Shazanand’ by the Hindus (Bazaz 2003). After the death of Sheikh Norruddin in 1808 AC, his followers formed a religious order called the ‘Rishis or Babas’ in Kashmir (Bazaz 2003). It is based on ‘Religious Humanism under the veneer of Islam’ (Bazaz 2003: 87). Although the basic tenants of the Quran remain the same, there was a peculiar synthesis of Islamic traditions with the regional socio-cultural norms of Kashmir (Bazaz 2003).

The spread of Islam in Kashmir during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was neither abrupt nor violent, but rather it subtly altered ‘the social structure of the Kashmiris’(Iqbal and Nirash 1978: 15).

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