I am reading Rushdie's latest on Kashmir and although he may present pre-independence Kashmir in idyllic terms. I find the following passage somewhat amusing in the manner he uses the term integral as India envisions Kashmir. In the following passage The Rajput Indian Army officer Colonel Kachhwaha,  who he describes as having a splendid Rajput moustache, a swaggering Rajput bearing, a barking British military style voice and a handy spittoon in which he spat copious betel juice, ponders the relationship of Kashmir to India. (He inhabits an army post in Kashmir called Elasticnagar, so named because of its tendencey to stretch)

The legal position was that the Indian military presence in Kashmir had the full support of the population, and to say otherwise was to break the law. To break the law was to be a criminal and criminals were not tolerated and it was right to come down on them heavily with the full panoply of the law and with hobnailed boots and lathi sticks as well. The key to understanding this position was the word "integral" and its associated concepts. Elasticnagar was integral to the Indian effort and the Indian effort was to preserve the "integrity" of the nation. Integrity was a quality to be honored and an attack on the integrity of the nation was an attack on her honor and not to be tolerated. Therefore Elasticnagar was to be honored and all other attitudes were dishonorable and consequently illegal. Fractions caused fractures in the "integer" and  were thus not "integral". Not to accept this was to lack integrirty and implicitly or explicitly to question the unquestionab;e integrity of those who accept it. Not to accept this was to favor disintegration. This was subversive. Subversion leading to disintegration was not to be tolerated and it was right to come down on it heavily whether it was of the overt or covert kind. The legal compulsory and enforceable popularity of Elasticnagar was thus a matter of integrity, pure and simple, even if the truth was that Elasticnagar was unpopular. When the truth and integrity conflicted it was integrity that had precedence. Not even the truth could be permitted to dishonor the nation. Therefore Elasticnagar was popular even when it was unpopular. It was a simple enough matter to understand.