Kashmir

Core values & worldview

Ask a Kashmiri from Srinagar who they are and you might hear: “I’m Kashmiri,” before any mention of India, Pakistan or religion. That answer comes from a long sense of being a distinct people, with their own language, a history going back to Kalhana’s Rajatarangini, a cuisine and a set of crafts known worldwide, and a valley they think is the most beautiful place on earth.^•

Dignity and the right to be asked. Kashmiri political memory is a story of outsiders deciding the valley’s fate: the Mughal conquest of 1586, the British “sale” of 1846, the Maharaja’s accession in 1947 and the revocation of autonomy in 2019. For many in the valley the deepest value at stake is dignity, often expressed as azadi, “freedom”, a word that means independence to some, autonomy or simply an end to fear to others.^•

Faith with a local face. Most Kashmiris are Sunni Muslims, with a Shia minority, and Islam is central to daily life. But it is an Islam shaped by Sufi shrines, local saints and the Kashmiri language. Lal Ded and Nund Rishi, revered by Hindus and Muslims alike, embody the idea of Kashmiriyat, a shared culture of tolerance. Since the 1990s, more scriptural, reformist currents have grown, and some Kashmiris worry the shrine culture is fading.^•

Hospitality and refinement. Guests are fed lavishly, and Kashmiris take pride in good manners, poetry and a certain refinement of speech. The great feast, the wazwan, is a matter of family honour.^•

Endurance and humour. Decades of curfews, shutdowns and loss have produced a remarkable capacity to endure, and a dark, ironic humour that outsiders often miss.^•

Daily life & customs

The valley’s rhythm follows the seasons. Spring brings almond blossom and tulips; summer, trips to the meadows of Gulmarg, Sonamarg and Pahalgam; autumn, the saffron harvest at Pampore and the reddening of the chinar trees; and winter, the forty days of hardest cold, Chillai Kalan, when families gather around the kangri under their woollen pherans.^•

Mornings start with noon chai, pink salt tea, and fresh bread from the neighbourhood baker, the kandur. Rice is the staple, eaten with vegetables such as haakh (collard greens) and lotus stem, and mutton is the meat of celebration. Weddings mean days of singing by women of the family and a wazwan cooked by hereditary chefs.^•

Friday prayers at Srinagar’s Jama Masjid and visits to shrines such as Hazratbal, which holds a relic believed to be a hair of the Prophet, mark the Muslim year. Pandits celebrate Herath (Shivaratri), their most important festival, and many return each year for the mela at Kheer Bhawani temple in Tulmul. The Amarnath cave pilgrimage brings hundreds of thousands of Hindus from across India in summer, guided and carried by Muslim pony men and porters.^•

Crafts are part of the economy and identity: pashmina and carpet weaving, papier-mâché, walnut-wood carving and copperware. Tourism, horticulture, especially apples, and government jobs are the other main livelihoods.^•

The language, Kashmiri (Koshur), is an Indo-Aryan language of the Dardic group with about 6.8 million speakers in India at the 2011 census. It is written in a Perso-Arabic script, though Pandits have also used Sharada and Devanagari. For generations schooling and government used Persian, then Urdu and English, and many young Kashmiris speak Urdu and English more confidently than they write Kashmiri.^•

Wounds & sensitivities

The 1990s and after. For most families in the valley, the decades since 1989 brought loss: sons killed as militants or civilians, men who disappeared after arrest, years of curfew and crackdowns, torture and humiliation at checkpoints. Indian official figures count about 41,000 deaths from 1990 to 2017; Kashmiri groups say far more. Many families still do not know where their missing are buried.^•

The Pandit exodus. For Kashmiri Pandits, the flight of 1990 is the defining wound: killings, threats and the loss of homes, temples and a way of life, and decades in exile with little justice. Many Kashmiri Muslims mourn the loss of their neighbours but feel collectively blamed. Approach it with care on both sides; it is personal for everyone.^•

Being spoken for. Kashmiris often feel that India and Pakistan speak about them, rather than to them. Hearing the region described as a “jugular vein” or an “integral part” can feel like being reduced to territory.^•

2019. The revocation of Article 370, the months-long communications blackout and the detention of leaders across the spectrum remain raw. Many Kashmiris feel unable to speak openly about politics, and for some, a stranger’s questions can carry real risk.^•

Stereotypes. Kashmiri students and traders in other parts of India have faced harassment after attacks such as Pulwama in 2019 and Pahalgam in 2025, and being casually called a “terrorist” or “separatist” is a common hurt.^•

Modern attitudes

Politics. Opinion in the valley is more varied than slogans suggest. Some Kashmiris want independence, some want to join Pakistan, and many would accept a dignified place within India with real autonomy. A 2010 Chatham House survey found strong support for independence in the valley, but very different views in Jammu and Ladakh, and in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.^•

A changing valley. Since 2019 the region has seen new roads, a railway into the valley, record tourism and lower militant violence, which the government sees as proof its policy works. Many Kashmiris welcome the economic activity but describe a climate of fear and silence, with journalists questioned and protest effectively banned.^•

Youth. Young Kashmiris are among the best-educated in India, and many study or work in Delhi, Bangalore or abroad. Unemployment, drug abuse and frustration are real problems, and many young people feel their generation has known nothing but conflict.^•

Religion. Faith is strong, and religious identity has become more prominent since the 1990s, but Kashmiris argue about it among themselves: Sufi shrine-goers and reformist groups, Sunnis and Shias, religious and secular.^•

Not all Kashmiris are the same

The valley. The Kashmir Valley is overwhelmingly Muslim, mostly Sunni with Shia communities, and is where the Kashmiri language and the azadi sentiment are strongest.^•

Kashmiri Pandits. The valley’s native Hindus share its language and food but, since 1990, mostly live in Jammu, Delhi and abroad. They tend to identify strongly with India, and many see the conflict through the lens of their own expulsion.^•

Jammu. South of the Pir Panjal mountains, Jammu is mostly Hindu, speaks Dogri and Punjabi as well as other languages, and remembers the Dogra kings with pride. Its Muslim-majority hill districts, Poonch, Rajouri and Doda, speak Pahari, Gojri and other languages. Most people in Jammu oppose separatism.^•

Ladakh. High, dry and thinly populated, Ladakh is Tibetan Buddhist around Leh and mostly Shia Muslim around Kargil. Leh long wanted separation from Kashmir; since 2019, both halves have campaigned for statehood and constitutional protection.^•

Azad Kashmir. Pakistan-administered “Azad” (Free) Jammu and Kashmir, with its own president and assembly, is mostly Pahari- and Punjabi-speaking, not Kashmiri-speaking, and generally supports Pakistan. Mirpur’s emigrants form much of the British “Kashmiri” community. The UN human-rights office has criticised limits on free expression there.^•

Gilgit-Baltistan. The mountainous north, ruled by Pakistan since its people revolted against the Maharaja in November 1947, is mostly Shia and Ismaili and speaks Shina, Balti and Burushaski. Many there see themselves as separate from Kashmir and want full status as a Pakistani province.^•

Aksai Chin. The barren plateau in the east has been held by China since the 1950s, and in 1963 Pakistan ceded the Shaksgam valley to China under a border agreement India does not recognise.^•

Meeting someone

Conversation starters

• Food. Ask about wazwan, which dish they love most, or how their family makes noon chai. It is the happiest topic there is.
• Their town and the seasons. Kashmiris love describing the valley, chinar trees in autumn, snow, the meadows, their grandparents’ orchards.
• Poetry and music. Lal Ded, Habba Khatoon, Mahjoor or Agha Shahid Ali; many Kashmiris can recite a line or two.^•
  • I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Dĕd — Lal Ded, trans. Ranjit Hoskote, Penguin Classics (2011)
  • Kashmiri Literature — Braj B. Kachru, Otto Harrassowitz (1981)
• Crafts. Pashmina, carpets, papier-mâché. If they’re from a craft family, they will have stories.
• Language. Asking a few words in Koshur is usually met with delight.

Topics to approach carefully

• India, Pakistan and azadi. Don’t ask “do you want to be Indian or Pakistani?” Views vary, and in some contexts speaking openly can be risky. Let them lead.^•
  • Kashmir: Paths to Peace — Robert W. Bradnock, Chatham House (2010)
• Militancy. A family may have lost someone to the security forces, to militants or both. Don’t assume which, or ask.^•
  • Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Kashmir: Developments in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir from June 2016 to April 2018, and General Human Rights Concerns in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan — Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations (2018)
• The Pandit exodus. Pandits and Muslims both carry pain about 1990. Avoid taking sides in a debate you have heard about only on social media or in films.^•
  • A Departure from History: Kashmiri Pandits, 1990–2001 — Alexander Evans, Contemporary South Asia (2002)
• Article 370 and 2019. People hold strong, opposite views, especially between the valley, Jammu and Ladakh.
• “Paradise on earth.” Kashmiris love their valley’s beauty, but being praised only as a holiday postcard, while the conflict is ignored, can grate.

Common misconceptions

• “All Kashmiris are Muslims” or “all are separatists.” The former state includes Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs, and opinions among Muslims vary widely.^•
  • Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris — Christopher Snedden, Hurst (2015)
  • Kashmir: Paths to Peace — Robert W. Bradnock, Chatham House (2010)
• “Kashmir is a Hindu–Muslim conflict.” Religion is part of it, but it is equally about self-rule, borders, history and human rights.^•
  • Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace — Sumantra Bose, Harvard University Press (2003)
• “The conflict began in 1989” or “in 1947.” For many Kashmiris, it begins with the loss of self-rule centuries earlier and the Dogra era.^•
  • Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the History of Kashmir — Mridu Rai, Princeton University Press (2004)
• “Kashmiris in Pakistan and Kashmiris in India are the same people.” Most people in Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan speak other languages and have different histories from the valley.^•
  • Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris — Christopher Snedden, Hurst (2015)
• “Cashmere comes from Kashmir.” The name does, but the finest pashmina wool comes from goats on the high plateau of Ladakh and Tibet; Kashmir’s artisans made it famous.^•
  • Kashmir (Oxford India Short Introductions) — Chitralekha Zutshi, Oxford University Press (2019)