Govt revokes Kashmir’s special status
NEW DELHI: India’s government revoked disputed Kashmir’s special status by presidential order yesterday as thousands of newly deployed troops descended and some internet and phone services were suspended in the restive Himalayan region.
Home Minister Amit Shah announced the revocation amid an uproar in India’s two houses of parliament and while Kashmir was under a security lockdown keeping thousands of people inside their homes and unable to communicate with the outside world.
Mr Shah’s statement came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi convened a cabinet meeting and the government’s top-decision making body on security matters, the Cabinet Committee on Security which he heads.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and both claim the region in its entirety. Two of the three wars India and Pakistan have fought since their independence from British rule were over Kashmir.
The revoked law, Article 370 of the Constitution, gives Jammu and Kashmir its own constitution and decisionmaking rights for all matters except for defence, communications and foreign affairs. The law also forbids Indians outside the state from permanently settling, buying land, holding local government jobs and securing education scholarships.
Critics of India’s Hindu nationalistled government see the move as a bid to dilute the demographics of Muslimmajority Kashmir with Hindu settlers.
According to a copy of the order, the revocation of Article 370 will “come into force at once” and will “supersede the Constitution”.
Despite the blackout on internet services, Jammu and Kashmir’s former chief minister, Mehbooba Mufi, tweeted that the government’s decision is “illegal” and “unconstitutional”.
“Today marks the darkest day in Indian democracy,” Mr Mufti wrote.
Mr Shah also introduced the “Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill” which, if passed, will split the state into two union territories — Jammu and Kashmir, which will have an elected legislature, and Ladakh, which will be ruled directly by the central government without a legislature of its own.
Currently, the state of Jammu and Kashmir comprises three regions: Hindu-majority Jammu,
Muslim-majority Kashmir and Buddhist-majority Ladakh.
India’s former finance minister, Arun Jaitley, hailed the government’s decision to remove Article 370, praising Mr Modi and Mr Shah for “correcting a historical blunder”.
“A historical wrong has been undone today,” he tweeted.
Regional parties in Jammu and Kashmir had earlier called attempts to revoke Article 370 an aggression against the people.