Ethnic identities and the dynamics of regional and sub-regional assertions in Jammu and Kashmir.

The concept of regional and sub-regional identity as well as regional autonomy has captured the stage of Social Science. The regional autonomy aspirations and the sense of regional and sub-regional identity have offered a new dimension to the assertiveness of ethnic group. Regional identity demands in South and Southeast Asian societies have followed a uniform pattern. These regional autonomy demands evolved over a large span of time may be located in specific geographical and environmental spaces. At one level, these demands remained humane and inclusive, incorporating and reflecting broader human and universal values. At the other level, they acquired the traits of particularism which in the later stages of building multi-cultural and multi-ethnic nation states posed many problems. The plurality of politics is the hallmark of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) State, and this polarity is essentially the result of cultural diversities that criss-cross the geographical and cultural landscape of Kashmir. The J&K State is not only a conglomerate of three distinct regions – Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh – but there are also regions within regions marked off from one another by geography, culture, and history. The politics of regional and sub-regionalism based on region, religion, caste, ethnicity, and so on continues to be stubbornly informed by their respective histories and cultures – thus the resistance against hegemony and the demand for sub-regional autonomies and Hill Development Councils. This article attempts at, looking into the dynamics of these assertions, its impact on the politics of the state, and to delineate the role of different socio-political and historical forces in shaping regional and sub-regional assertions in J&K without, however, suppressing the relative significance of different identity markers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]