Not settler colonialism? Shahla Hussain, ‘The Land Question in Kashmir: Limitations of the Settler-Colonial Framework’, in Sugata Bose, Ayesha Jalal (eds), South Asia’s Freedom in Global Perspective: Nation, Partition, Federation, Routledge, 2025 | settler colonial studies blog

Not settler colonialism? Shahla Hussain, ‘The Land Question in Kashmir: Limitations of the Settler-Colonial Framework’, in Sugata Bose, Ayesha Jalal (eds), South Asia’s Freedom in Global Perspective: Nation, Partition, Federation, Routledge, 2025

14Dec25

Abstract: In August 2019, the Hindu nationalist government led by the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) unilaterally abolished Kashmir’s autonomous status, the basis of its provisional accession to India. Since then, the Indian government has revoked Kashmir’s special land protections that prevented outsiders from buying land in Kashmir. Some scholars have responded to this political moment by situating Jammu and Kashmir within a theoretical settler-colonial model, interpreting India’s past integration policies, surveillance, assimilation agenda, land dispossession, and more through this lens. However, this chapter demonstrates the limitations of the settler-colonial framework to explain the rich and complex post-1947 history of Kashmir. Instead, it places the land question in Kashmir within its unique regional context and examines the complex dynamics at play. Drawing on laws and legislation, court cases, and legal narratives, this chapter historicizes India’s territorialization efforts across different temporal frames against the backdrop of state-subject laws, agrarian reforms, urban spatial changes, and the recent transformation of Kashmir into a site of neoliberal economic extraction. It also highlights the emotional significance of land for Kashmiris and its role in shaping their politics of collaboration and resistance. Ultimately, the chapter argues that India’s forcible integration of Kashmir reflects a postcolonial nation-building strategy focused on producing territorial sovereignty, shaped by the entanglements of imperial capitalism, neoliberalism, and corporate interests.

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