Conclusion: Afterword---A Clarion Call Tahir Abbas In the shadows of the Himalayas stands the forgotten struggle of Jammu and Kashmir (Kashmir for short), whose plight remains precarious as India tightens its grip, placing the future of the territory in even more uncertainty and insecurity. The region of Kashmir is one of the most contested in the world. However, the vast majority of commentators, analysts, and social thinkers in the West routinely omit a careful anal- ysis while those in the region face immense pressures on their freedom to report and write on the issue. For too many, the matter is a bilat- eral question between India and Pakistan when the reality is an urgent and necessary need for the self-determination of the people of Kashmir. In presenting some closing arguments to this vital collection of scholarly input on the topic of social and political life in Jammu and Kashmir, I outline some distinct sociological concerns. I also take this opportunity to issue a clarion call to activists, scholars, and thinkers to place the needs and wants of Kashmir first and foremost, even if either neighbor—India or Pakistan—remains somewhat limited in its perspectives, whether this is by design or an accident of history. T. Abbas Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands e-mail:
[email protected] © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive 299 license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Hussain (ed.), Society and Politics of Jammu and Kashmir, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56481-0 300 T.