Imaginations of Self and Struggle

This paper aims to interpret construction of the self and struggles of nationhood of some Muslim women in Kashmir's resistance movement against Indian control , focusing on the phase of the armed struggle in the 1980s. It argues that they have been continually refashioning their notions of self and notions of just and free political community, and have cast themselves in religious -cultural terms to suit the needs of the movement. Muslim women with an active role in the armed struggle underwent a process of self-constitution in the processes of engagement with their immediate social and political context. There are women with a Muslim identity, who may or may not be practising Muslims when they intervene in political action. Yet, they were invariably cast in religious -cultural terms, forgetting that they have challenged both the Indian state and its patriarchy of militarism, alongside that within their own community.