Not your regular influencers: how Kashmiri Instagrammers are breaking taboos – and making money while they’re at it

For a group of models, make-up artists and fashion photographers in mainly Muslim Indian Kashmir, Instagram is where they make their living

Despite societal disapproval, rooted in conservative Islamic values, a new generation of Kashmiris is pursuing lucrative careers as influencers

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Muskan Akhoon posing during a photo shoot. A growing number of women like Akhoon are taking the internet by storm in Indian Kashmir by becoming Instagram models and influencers. Photo: Instagram/@muskaan_akhoon_

Published: 5:15pm, 13 Mar 2023Updated: 11:59pm, 13 Mar 2023

Turning away from the backdrop to face the bright studio lights, Muskan Akhoon’s bright smile gives way to a bold stare. A few pictures from the shoot eventually make their way to Instagram, where the fashion influencer has cultivated a following of over 11,000 users.

Akhoon, who at 18 is already something of a celebrity and often recognised in public, is among a growing number of women taking the internet by storm in restive Kashmir, a northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. The validation is heartening, she says, but is nothing compared to the satisfaction of being financially independent.

“Nobody taught me how to pose, even on the first shoot,” Akhoon tells the Post as she prepares for a shoot in Srinagar, the region’s largest city. “If a model is confident and motivated, they can pose and maintain facial expressions on their own. I have worked hard.”

A first-year university student, Akhoon charges an average of US$70 for a day’s shoot. “On average, I do 12-15 shoots per month,” she says, which amounts to an income much higher than the average monthly salary in an area battered by more than three decades of conflict.

In the late 1980s, Kashmir saw the emergence of an anti-India insurgency rooted in Islamic values, which not only enforced conservative notions by closing down cinemas, liquor stores and beauty parlours, but began policing women’s public conduct.

Even as beauty salons reopened on a larger scale in the early 2000s, they remained vulnerable; societal taboos have prevailed, even as the militants’ strength has waned in recent years.