Contemporary Ladakh: identifying the “other” in Buddhist-Muslim transformative relations

Identity is a fluid concept and there are multiple identities which an individual can approximate based on various circumstances. This applies to the case of Ladakh wherein any attempt to label the society in terms of primordial identities leads to a very parochial understanding of what it means to be a Ladakhi.

The paper indicates that in such societies there is a need felt by the locals to appropriate an identity from which they can gain a sense of belonging. The Ladakhis in this case have mostly resorted to emphasise their religious identity.

The brief points to the fact that due to the overemphasis on the religious differences amongst the two groups, other parameters of social exclusion such as caste based discrimination are being totally ignored.

The author deems it is necessary for people to stop identifying the other and instead focus on shared cultural heritage and commonalities in language and aspirations to identify or relate to each other.

Key points are that:

• the ongoing research in this area gives hope that questions and issues related to identity will be examined well so as to find possible solutions to such problems
• such a process is detrimental to the peace, stability and development of the region for important issues get sidelined in the fervor of religious identification
• above all it is the masses that need to find a voice of their own and use their agency to spread and strengthen inter-communal networks to build a society without religious divides