The region and people of Kashmir have been at the centre of processes that transformed South Asia after the two World Wars and the collapse of colonialism. Kashmir: Before the Accession and After examines the hitherto neglected areas of life in Kashmir, its continually fraught relationship with the central government of India, and the role of international politics, which resulted in the inception and perpetuation of the crisis in the region. Spanning the decades from the end of the rule of the Dogras and Sheikh Abdullah’s contentious relations with the national leadership in Delhi to the current abrogation of Article 370, this book investigates the historical trajectory and modern identity politics at the core of the Kashmir problem. Invoked by the local elite and other participants through political and social struggles, this situation has shaped the everyday life of Kashmiris, offering tools for highlighting pre-existing homogeneities and differences in order to construct specific versions of such identities on religious and regional bases.