Understanding the Human Cost of

Executed through a Presidential Order, followed by the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, on August 5, 2019, India downgraded the state of J&K to a Union Territory. The rationale behind the abrogation of article 370 and 35-A was to integrate J&K with the rest of India, start a robust economic development, ending discrimination, curbing terrorism and separatism apart from the other arguments advanced by the Central Government such as legal and constitutional, a political and electoral promise to both the state of J&K and rest of India that peace is on its way. While on many indicators the government has done well and the bloom in the tourist industry was one of the facts supporting the aspirations of the government, but the recent attack on the tourists at Baisaran, Pahalgam a remote valley in the Anantnag district, has raised questions about the narrative of post abrogation peace. India and Pakistan were at such a crisis stage that the de-escalation looked highly difficult between the two nuclear rivals. In this context the article will analyse the human cost of the conflict in J&K, particularly after the recent escalation when India launched Operation Sindoor by responding to the terrorist attack carried out by Pakistan based terrorist organisation.

The State, Territorial Trap and Mundane Populations of Border

The terrorist attack was one of the gravest challenge to the sovereignty and territoriality of the Indian state. The