The Caste We Pretend Doesn't Exist in Kashmir

We celebrate beauty, culture, and faith, yet we allow caste and class to shape our lives. The cost is deeper than we admit.

- Barkat Ul Sultan Handoo

Kashmiris like to believe they’re beyond caste, that their society is free of such divisions.

But the truth is that caste and class discrimination are alive in Kashmir, shaping marriages, friendships, ‘and social networks. We just don’t admit it.

This prejudice is not loud. It does not always come with slurs or public humiliation. It is soft, folded into polite rejections and measured silences.

It happens in family meetings where a potential match is dismissed because the person is from a rural village. It happens when a girl’s proposal is turned down because her father doesn’t hold a government job. It happens when a boy is seen as “unsuitable” because his family does not carry the right surname, even if his character shines.

The tragedy is not just that this happens. It’s that it happens, and people pretend it doesn’t.

Many Kashmiris wear the mask of progress. We praise education. We quote verses about equality. We claim that our society has outgrown the shadows of caste. But these are words. Behind closed doors, decisions are still made based on caste and class, even when they are dressed in new language.

In modern Kashmir, caste often hides behind class. It is easier now to judge people not by what caste they belong to, but by where they work, where they live, or where they studied.

Families take pride in their connections, their addresses in the city, and their relatives abroad. People with government jobs or foreign degrees are considered superior, as though wealth or urban life alone proves refinement.

But this is not refinement. It is just caste wearing a different coat.