The rhetoric of armed social welfare has become prominent in military and counterinsurgency circuits with profound consequences for the meanings of democracy, citizenship, and humanitarianism in conflict zones. By focusing on the border district of Kargil, the site of India and Pakistan's fourth war in 1999, this book analyses how humanitarian policies of healing and heart warfare infused the logic of democracy and militarism in the post-war period.

Mona Bhan is Associate Professor of Anthropology at DePauw University, USA. Her research interests include counterinsurgency, militarization, democracy, gender, and environmentalism. Her on-going research is on the politics of water between India and Pakistan.

Introduction 1. Becoming Brogpas 2. The Hill Council and the Healing Touch 3. Pajlus, Porters, and Heroes 4. Heart Warfare? 5. Blurred Boundaries 6. Conclusion