ABSTRACT
This chapter, on the much-discussed Kashmir issue, examines the debates and dilemmas related to people’s participation and securitization of the region. It seeks to deconstruct the Kashmir imbroglio from the prism of the rights discourse in the Valley, counterpoising it with the state-security-nationalistic discourse predominant in Jammu. Seen thus, the unrest in Kashmir stems in the short run from the torture, militarization, illegal detentions, enforced disappearances and humiliation that infringe upon the basic rights of people there on a daily basis and in the long run from a denial of the promised right to self-determination. It also looks at the dilemmas this throws up in terms of the ideological chasm between Jammu and Kashmir and reconciliation with the seemingly competing and conflicting rights of all other stakeholders including Kashmiri Pandits, Ladakhi and Buddhists. It ultimately appeals for a human rights approach in order to get a middle ground between the two, keeping in mind the multiple areas of deprivation and disadvantage that exist in the region.
