ABSTRACT
Kashmir is a conflict citadel where extrajudicial killings have become part of a vicious cycle of cultures of violence. In Kashmir, exceptionalism – a technology of governance engineered through extraordinary practices that create a condition of lawlessness – has rendered thousands of deaths and disappearances, along with sexual violence and tortures. For decades, heavy presence of India’s armed forces and strong demands for self-determination have put Kashmiri people in a quagmire of political repression. Based on first-hand ethnographic fieldwork, this chapter outlines the major trends in the exceptionalist practices of the Indian state, the militarisation of Kashmir as well as the modes and modalities behind the development of militant resistance as a consequence of the structural violence inflicted by various state agencies.
