A collective sigh of relief swept through Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday after US president Donald Trump claimed to have brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan following days of escalating military tensions.
Both countries claimed to have emerged from the brief conflict victorious – narratives designed to appease their domestic audiences. Both proclaimed unequivocal success in their military operations. And both stuck to their hardline positions on the Kashmir issue, the heart of the conflict between the two nuclear powers.
Amid all the diplomatic manoeuvring and a public discourse dominated by Mr Trump’s offer to solve the Kashmir issue after “a thousand years” – quietly rebuffed by “sources” in Narendra Modi’s government but openly welcomed by Pakistan, one set of voices was conspicuously absent: that of the Kashmiris themselves.
In the echo chamber of Indian mainstream media and social media, many of the views that should truly matter have been silenced. Instagram pages, Facebook accounts and X handles of Kashmiri journalists and activists have been taken down as part of a broader crackdown on Kashmiri Muslim voices.
Though Kashmiris welcomed the ceasefire announcement, many felt frustrated at being sidelined, once again, in the story of their own lives. They continued to be excluded, they complained, from discussions that directly impact them more than anyone else.
One resident of Jammu and Kashmir, who asked not to be named in order to speak freely, told The Independent the ceasefire offered“immense respite” since it would prevent “loss of innocent lives”, but it was “not a solution”.
Professor Noor Ahmed Baba, a renowned Kashmiri political scientist, told The Independent that Kashmiri voices were often sidelined in the broader discourse. “There is a significant lack of representation, with many in Kashmir expressing frustration about the absence of their perspectives in both Indian and international media. The result is a widespread sense of alienation among Kashmiris, who feel unheard.”
This isn’t new. Since it did away with Jammu and Kashmir’s autonomy and put it under direct central rule in 2019, the Indian government has detained thousands of people in the restive Himalayan territory. To preempt street protests against the decision, the Modi government imposed a full lockdown, jailing political leaders, activists, lawyers and students for many months, all while a comprehensive communications blackout was enforced.
Kashmir is administered in part by both India and Pakistan and claimed in full by both countries. Some Kashmiris favour one or the other while many would prefer a third option: for the region to be an independent country. But India has firmly ruled out holding a referendum on the matter, saying Jammu and Kashmir is an inalienable part of the nation and that it considers the matter resolved.
Kashmiris argue that without addressing the root cause of the conflict in the region – the denial of their right to self-determination – any peace between India and Pakistan will remain fragile.
“Things have started looking like normal again after the ceasefire but there’s a lot of anxiety among people,” said a Kashmiri businessman who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal from Indian authorities. “We don’t know what will happen next.”
In Kashmir, dissent has been dealt with using an iron fist. People have been charged for posting personal views on social media. In the wake of the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack – which India cited as its reason for striking Pakistan and launching the conflict last week – some 2,000 locals were arrested in a sweeping crackdown and houses belonging to people accused of having links to militants were razed to the ground. In many Indian cities, Kashmiri Muslims were harassed or attacked.
“Between India and Pakistan, it’s always Kashmir that bleeds,” said another Kashmiri who requested not to be named. “Two nuclear nations can sit on the edge of war, but not once have they allowed Kashmiris to decide their own fate.”
Strategic experts say the peace may not last. India and Pakistan still don’t trust each other and key problems – like terrorism, water sharing and political tensions – remain unsolved.
A Kashmiri academic living overseas noted that “Kashmir has proven it is not ‘normal’ and no amount of Indian parroting will make it so”.
After Mr Trump’s offer to mediate on Kashmir, the “narrative of it being a tinderbox which will bring devastation to South Asia unless solved according to the wishes of its people is squarely back in play,” they said.
Political commentator Mohammad Taqi told The Independent that Mr Modi’s stance on the Kashmir dispute left little room for ambiguity. It was long viewed strictly as a domestic affair and since the removal of its autonomy, “the emphasis has been on further integrating the region”.
For the cause of Kashmiri self-determination, he said, “it’s a bad omen”.
The idea once promoted by armed separatist groups that Kashmir must become independent or merge with Pakistan has lost ground in recent years but many still demand inclusion in decisions that would shape their future.
Militancy had been “replaced by a deep alienation of the Kashmiri polity,” Siddiq Wahid, professor of humanities and social sciences at Shiv Nadar University near Delhi, told The New York Times.
Omar Abdullah, the top elected official in Jammu and Kashmir, has little real power – especially over law and order, which is under the control of the lieutenant governor appointed by New Delhi.
Mr Abdullah was recently excluded from a key security meeting chaired by the federal home minister, leading to criticism from his party.
Mr Taqi argued that the brewing conflict over river sharing sparked by India’s suspension of the Indus Water Treaty might become the new main issue between India and Pakistan, displacing Kashmir.
“Trump will say whatever gets him more eyes on the television and more clicks on social media. So that was nothing but hot air. I’m pretty sure that Indians are already communicating to him via back channels that this is not open to discussion, that this is an off-the-table issue,” he said of Trump’s offer to help “solve” the Kashmir issue.
“Pakistanis would love for him to mediate but I don’t see that happening. That’s not going to happen.”
But the Indus Water Treaty, he said, was “going to be a sore spot”. “I think discussions would have to take place around that, since there was international money and brokering involved in going into the treaty, and India had an interest in revising it,” he said.
For people living in Kashmir – a region scarred by decades of conflict – the impact of tensions between India and Pakistan is deeply personal.
A member of the Association of Parents of Disappeared People told The Independent that they were still asking questions that had never been answered. The whereabouts of their loved ones remained unknown years after they were allegedly picked up by the Indian army. APDP is a collective of families in Kashmir whose loved ones were subjected to “enforced disappearance”, allegedly by Indian forces.
For them, the internal war is never-ending.
For others, there is a sense of exhaustion and exclusion, as if the “conversation is one-sided”. They are spoken at, not with, and many believe this approach will never lead to peace.
