Life in the Margins: Sikh efforts to seek representation and recognition in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir

Abstract

Sikhs, in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), represent only 1.87% – roughly 60,000 members – of the overall population in the region, which remains predominately Muslim. In the valley of Kashmir, Sikh minorities maintain distinct cultural, linguistic, religious, and (at times) political traditions from other Sikhs in India. In recent decades, beleaguered by the lack of secure work opportunities, religious and political violence, an overall political invisibility, and the slow migration of members out of the region, Sikhs have been agitating for minority status over their lack of official recognition by the Indian government as a religious and cultural minority. Many Sikhs have found it easier to seek opportunities outside the valley, leading to a “slow migration” of members from Kashmir. The efforts of minoritization would see Sikhs gaining better work and educational opportunities and potentially stemming their slow departure. This research looks at subjects of visibility, membership, minority rights and efforts, and looks to provide the historical contexts that remain relevant to the community in current discourses. This thesis seeks to understand more specifically (1) what minoritization would provide for Sikhs in the Kashmir valley and (2) the possible future implications of becoming recognized as distinct and different political subjects by the Indian State, while simultaneously seeking to maintain their own distinct cultural and regional identities. For Kashmir’s Sikhs, desires for visibility highlight anxieties related to their awareness of their own disappearance and economic suffering. Between the region’s violent history and India’s military occupation, their anxieties reveal complex social issues that are rooted in memories and experiences of traumas, weak government efforts to provide access to Scheduled Status, and the continued burden of oversight that have long left the community in the margins of relevance.