Mehdi Hussain, a research associate at the Indian Council of World Affairs in New Delhi, wrote this article.
The diversity of Jammu & Kashmir's cultures and religions is well-known. In the past, the area has served as a symbol of peaceful coexistence between groups of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists. The region's distinctive cultural character is ingrained in Kashmiriyat. It is a worldview based on common cultural identity, tolerance, respect for one another, and spiritual syncretism. It is an Indigenous kind of multiculturalism that places a strong emphasis on virtues like respect for all spiritual paths, communal solidarity, and hospitality (mehman-nawazi). Shared festivals, group pilgrimages, and reverence for one another's sacred places are examples of syncretic traditions. These principles were reflected by spiritual leaders who are respected beyond religious lines, such as the Shaivite mystic poet Lal Ded and the Sufi saint Sheikh Noor-ud-Din Wali.
But this balance was severely upset by the emergence of armed militancy in the late 1980s. The forcible relocation of the Kashmiri Pandit population was one of the most obvious disruptions, which resulted in a pervasive lack of trust between the communities. The social environments that may foster interfaith trust were undermined in the years that followed by continuous conflict, militarization, and political instability. In areas of resilience, routine community interactions continued, but fear, polarization, and identity politics increasingly overshadowed larger society discourse. Despite being alive in the common memory, Kashmiriyat values had difficulty finding a meaningful way to be expressed.