Earlier this summer, the Indian government repealed Article 370, stripping Kashmir of its autonomous status. This timely discussion examines the region’s history, contemporary tumultuous situation and uncertain future.

The current exhibition displays works created in Kashmir by Praneet Soi working with master craftsman Fayaz Jan and his atelier. The works are displayed alongside notes and legal texts written on the walls around the works including an extract from Article 370. In this evening four speakers discuss Kashmir in depth, from the local activists campaigning for independence, to the constitutional status of Kashmir and the prospects for peaceful resolution.

About the speakers:

Amina Mahmood Mir is a doctoral researcher at the University of Westminster in London. She is currently researching the self-determination groups across all the regions involved in the Kashmir conflict. Her ancestral roots lie in the Kashmir Valley but she has travelled and engaged with young people and scholars in both India and Pakistan-administered Jammu & Kashmir. She also advocates for awareness initiatives addressing gender equality in Kashmir.

Dr Nitasha Kaul is a multidisciplinary academic, novelist, poet, artist and economist. She has worked on themes relating to identity, democracy feminist and postcolonial critiques, Kashmir and Bhutan. Her novel ‘Residue’ (Rupa/Rainlight, 2014) about Kashmiris and the politics of identity across nation-state borders was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize. She is Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster, London.

Mirza Saaib Beg is a Kashmiri lawyer, currently based in London. He is a graduate of NALSAR University of Law, India. He has worked with parliamentarians, judges and activists on political, economic and legal issues of Kashmir. He regularly contributes through seminars and writing aimed at dialogue on legal and political issues of Kashmir.

Mariyeh Parveen Mushtaq is an MA candidate in Gender, Sexuality, and Culture at Birkbeck, University of London. She uses feminist research to understand women’s experiences of conflict and militarisation.