Conditional Tolerance: Securitization and the Governance of Kashmiri Shia Religious Life since 1979
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65826/IJPIR.1.2.2026.25Keywords:
Postcolonial governance, Securitization, Conditional tolerance, Kashmir, State–religion relationsAbstract
This article analyses the governance of the religious practices of a minority community within a secular postcolonial state amidst enduring conflict and institutionalized securitization, specifically examining Kashmiri Shia communities since 1979. It goes beyond interpretations rooted in sectarian bias or ‘divide and rule’ strategies. It presents the idea of conditional tolerance, highlighting that religious freedom was implemented as a revocable and contingent practice instead of being regarded as a stable constitutional right. Based on qualitative interviews with Kashmiri Shia religious leaders, civil society actors, policymakers, and diplomats, as well as parliamentary debates, legal frameworks, and human rights reports, the article delineates three phases of governance: administrative accommodation in the 1980s; differentiated containment during the insurgency post-1989; and the post-2019 normalization of securitized regulation. During these phases, Shia religious practices were not officially banned, but they were selectively allowed, limited to certain areas and symbolically depoliticised through normal administrative and security measures. By putting these domestic practices in a regional context, the article shows how Pakistan’s general talk of Muslim solidarity and Iran’s strategic pragmatism toward India made it less likely for outsiders to keep an eye on sect-specific religious restrictions in Kashmir. This, in turn, gave the state more room to govern itself. The study challenges binary models of repression versus accommodation by focusing on everyday administrative practices instead of exceptional legal measures. It shows how tolerance can be a regulatory technique built into normal governance. The article contributes to the discourse on postcolonial governance, securitization, and the interplay between religion and the state by illustrating how religious freedom in conflict-affected societies persists not as an inherent right but as a conditional outcome that is continually negotiated within the framework of security governance.
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