Indian Supreme Court affirms Modi’s decision to revoke Kashmir’s special status
According to The Times of India, the Indian Supreme Court unanimously supported the Modi government’s 2019 decision to revoke Article 370, so stripping occupied Kashmir of its special status.
By September 30, 2024, the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) territory is to have elections, as mandated by the court to the electoral commission.
2019 saw the removal of occupied Kashmir’s special status with the repeal of Article 370 of the constitution by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). To prevent outsiders from other parts of India from taking over the state, the law reserved college spots and posts in the state government for locals.
The Indian parliament’s ability to pass laws in the area was further limited by this article to the areas of communications, foreign policy, and defense.
But the abrogation also made it possible for residents of other Indian states to purchase real estate and establish permanent residence in Kashmir.
Opponents of India’s Hindu nationalist-led government, as well as Kashmiris and foreign organizations, saw this move as an attempt to change Kashmir’s demographics, which is dominated by Muslims, by bringing in Hindu immigrants.
The ruling on the pleas contesting the removal of IlOJK’s special status included the court’s directive from today.
The Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, chairing a five-member bench, had postponed its decision on September 5 regarding the legality of the action, even though it did not receive the parliamentary approval typically needed for a constitutional amendment.
More than a dozen petitions challenging the revocation and the subsequent decision to divide the area into two federally administered territories prompted the unanimous order by a panel of five judges. The central government, on the other hand, had defended its action, claiming there was no “constitutional fraud” in nullifying the provision.
Critics have flooded in, alleging that since the ruling about the move’s legality, public protests and media freedoms have been severely restricted, with the government cementing power.
But the administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi stood by the decision, claiming that it had brought “peace, progress, and prosperity” to the area.
The territory became more closely linked with India following the government’s controversial decision to suspend special status, which was made in accordance with a major, long-standing pledge made by Modi’s nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The decision to uphold this suspension of special status sets the stage for elections in the region.
The ruling gives the government a boost ahead of the May general elections.
The challengers disputed whether parliament had the authority to abolish the special status of the picturesque mountain region, arguing that only the IIOJK constituent assembly could make that decision.
The court ruled that special status was a provision of the constitution that was only temporary and that parliament might cancel. In addition, it mandated that the federal territory become a state again as soon as possible.
It is noteworthy that since the two countries’ 1947 independence from British colonial authority, India’s only Muslim-majority territory, IIOJK, has been at the center of more than 75 years of hostility with neighboring Pakistan.
The region is divided between China, which occupies a sparsely inhabited high-altitude terrain in the north, Pakistan, which controls a wedge of territory in the west, and India, which governs the heavily populated Kashmir Valley and the Hindu-dominated region of Jammu.
Home Minister Amit Shah informed the legislature in 2019 that the president had issued an order repealing Article 370 of the constitution, which granted the Himalayan area, which is predominantly Muslim, special autonomy.
Ladakh and Occupied Kashmir would now be Union Territory with a legislature, according to reports in the Indian media.
Hours after his administration imposed a lockdown on occupied Kashmir, cutting off phone and internet connections and placing local lawmakers under house arrest, Modi called a security cabinet meeting following the abrogation.
Tens of thousands of military reinforcements were brought in to enforce the massive crackdown, which New Delhi claimed was necessary due to the “prevailing law and order situation”.
After days of rising tensions, all phones, internet services, and cable networks were cut off for the approximately seven million inhabitants in the area at midnight.
A “curfew pass” was required for street access, and hundreds of visitors were told to leave occupied Kashmir due to the possibility of militant attacks.
Simultaneously, around 80,000 paramilitary personnel were airlifted into Kashmir within IIOJK.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations expressed worry in 2019 about the internationally recognized disputed territory of IIOJK. The Secretary-General had ‘all along’ insisted that Pakistan and India should settle all outstanding concerns via discussion, particularly those involving Kashmir.
Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, had also pleaded with the two neighbors to use caution.
The UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) had also noted and documented an uptick in military operations along the Line of Control (LoC) just prior to the abrogation
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