The cattle rearing community of high altitude region known as bakarwals derived its name from the Gojri word bakara which means goat or sheep. Bakarwal means shepherd, one who takes care of goats and sheep, being a nomadic tribe they migrate around a vast area from pir panjal to ladakh in Himalayan mountains of South Asia. They migrate from place to place seasonally for grazing of the cattle, they are mainly found in Kashmir region of India and Pakistan also in Northeast Afghanistan. Gujjars are ethnic nomads, who are traditionally involved in agriculture, pastoral and nomadic activities. They mainly spread in India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Gujjars have quite a historical role as founders of kingdom as well as nomads with no land of their own, these tribal group people have dominant lineage with both Hindu and Muslim segments of the society. These gujjars and bakarwals of Jammu and Kashmir being nomadic, they primarily move around Kashmir forest, hills and camp at different locations and migrate time to time for grazing their cattle in summer, but during the winters they move towards the warmer plains of Jammu to protect their family and livestock from the freezing winters of Kashmir, and it is extremely difficult to migrate during the winters and even in summers they face lots of challenges in the form of road accidents, wild animals hunting their livestock. They navigate and survive in terrains which are so tough for any normal human being to survive, and they are living in the same difficult situation ever since our country became independent in 1947, especially in the Jammu and Kashmir region they suffered a lot due to the militancy related violence, and instability caused by Pakistan.
The separatist agenda and politics has existed for a long time in Jammu and Kashmir, however due to the geographical locations and their nomadic nature of gujjars and bakarwals made them disconnected from the propagandas and separatist agendas of the valley, there are multiple instances where they showed nationalist tendencies and remained unaffected by the separatists. Even during the high time of large scale protests and stone pelting incidents in the valley there was a least participation by the gujjars and bakarwals despite their tough life style conditions and poverty. In fact, at few instances they were targeted by the separatists and stone pelters for not standing by the cause of free Kashmir and often branded as collaborators and traitors. In recent times, after the abrogation of Article 370, it received a positive response from the community, as it created a new hope for the people, they may finally get their political reservations which was denied to them for a long time. The main reason for their nationalism and pro India sentiment is because of their etho-nationalism and cultural affiliation is much stronger than their religious affiliation. Religion may be a binding force and a factor which disciplines a human being but ethnic and cultural identities always comes before the religion. The unique secular inheritance of the gujjars and bakarwals made the separatists and militants dislike the tribe, the predominance of their nationalism over the Kashmiri consciousness prevented the growth of separatist tendency in their community. The gujjars of Jammu area are more active in politics where the separatist groups have not much of a influence. Since long past they are affiliated to the national conference, being the third largest community in Jammu and Kashmir, the gujjars and bakarwals have a huge influence over 26 constituencies.
