is Emeritus Professor of South Asian Laws at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, where he taught from 1981 to 2014. He developed particularly the teaching of comparative legal studies with an interdisciplinary, multidimensional South Asian focus, through courses including Legal Systems of Asia and Africa, Law and Society in South Asia and Ethnic Minorities and the Law. Apart from supervising numerous doctoral students, he published 14 books, including Muslim Family Law (with D. Pearl, 3rd edn. 1998), Modern Indian Family Law (2002, 2016), Hindu Law (2003) and Comparative Law in a Global Context: The Legal Systems of Asia and Africa (2nd edn, 2006). He has contributed almost 300 published articles, continues to be co-editor of South Asia Research and remains active in mentoring junior scholars.

received his PhD from the Academy of International Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi. He is a Deputy Editor of South Asia Research. His research articles have been published in Studia Islamica, Contemporary South Asia and South Asia Research, among others. He also regularly writes on international affairs with a special focus on Pakistan and Kashmir and his work has appeared in Foreign Policy, The Telegraph, Al-Jazeera, The Diplomat, Frontline Magazine and several other media outlets.

PART I: THE ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK FOR DYNAMIC GENUINE PLURALISM IN ACTION Introduction: States, Leadership, Human Suffering and the Mythologies of Azadi 1. From Local Feudalism to Responsible Self-Governance: The Kashmir Kite 2. Flying Kashmiri Azadi Kites: Conflicts, Games or Responsible Agency? 3. Keeping It in the Family: Understanding Kashmir as an Ancestral Property Dispute PART II: CONTESTED HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL ACCOUNTS: THINGS WE KNOW AND IMPORTANT LITTLE DETAILS SOME MAY NOT WANT TO KNOW 4. Feudal Kashmir, the Princely State and Beginnings of Reform Efforts 5. Breaking the Myth of the Accession of Jammu and Kashmir 6. Legal Status of Jammu and Kashmir within the Indian Union: Reading from the Texts PART III: THE TROUBLED INTERIM PHASE OF KASHMIR (1947-2019) AND CRASHING KITES OVER SOUTH ASIA 7. Continuing Problems in Kashmir during the 21st Century 8. Pakistan's Kashmir Policy: Blocked Desires and the Search for an Honourable Exit 9. India-Bangladesh Border Issues: Tidying Up the Colonial Mess Concluding Analysis- Post-2019 Kashmir: Completing the Partition and Facing New Challenges