Srinagar, May 29 -- In a busy alley of Anantnag's Lal Chowk, a shopkeeper folded his arms and squinted under the soft flicker of a streetlight. "There is a chowkidar here," he said, "at least on paper. But if you ask me who he is-I couldn't tell you."

Around him, traffic hummed, lights blinked from rooftop cameras, and neighbours passed without a second glance. "We've learned to watch over ourselves."

That's not how it was supposed to work.

For over a century, Kashmir's local administration has leaned on two posts that once served as the backbone of rural and semi-urban order-the lumberdar and the chowkidar.

Part colonial creation, part social role, they were village-level insiders meant to serve as go-betweens for the people and the ...