ABSTRACT
An important step in the nation-building process in Kashmir was Kashmiriyat, a concept of a distinct ethnonational identity of the Muslim and Hindu Kashmiris, confined to the Vale of Kashmir. It was an idealised constitutive narrative of a joint protonational Kashmiri identity of the Muslims and Hindus, who had peacefully inhabited the Vale of Kashmir over centuries and shared the same national ethos and cultural symbols. Kashmiriyat-based secular nationalism, with azadi (freedom) agenda, developed against the backdrop of two other nationalisms: religious and ethnic. The conflict—with the process of dismantling democratic structures after 1983 and the post-1989 uprising—has led to a serious transformation of the Kashmiri identity. Notable is a visible tilt towards religious values and an emergence of a new Muslim-national identity of the Kashmiris, expandable to other parts of Kashmir. The abandonment of secularism as foundation of Indian state contributes to the intensity of the conflict and alienation of the local population.
