India’s actions on Kashmir spark tensions
NEW DELHI — India said Monday it was revoking a constitutional provision granting certain autonomous powers to Indian-controlled Kashmir, setting the stage for new clashes in the disputed region.
The move followed a tense night when Indian authorities put prominent politicians under house arrest in Srinagar, Kashmir’s capital, and cut off mobile and Internet services to the Himalayan region without explanation.
Amit Shah, India’s interior minister, told the country’s parliament that New Delhi would revoke Article 370, which gives Kashmir the right to make its own laws. The step also nullifies another provision that bars nonresidents from purchasing property in the state.
Shah also announced that the state would be reorganized administratively, a move that would effectively limit the powers of a state government. This was being done “keeping in view the prevailing internal security situation fueled by cross-border terrorism,” Shah said.
Article 370 had been considered a cornerstone of Kashmir’s inclusion in India during the 1947 partition that separated India and Pakistan following the end of British colonial rule.
Monday’s move comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hard-line Hindu nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP, won a big victory in Indian elections in May. The decision and its stealthy implementation are likely to further damage New Delhi’s relationship with its most restive state, and its only Muslim-majority one, and ignite unrest there.
“BJP has not only murdered the Constitution but also murdered democracy,” said Ghulam Nabi Azad, a leader of the opposition Congress party.
India’s army and air force were put on high alert and 8,000 troops were airlifted to Kashmir after the announcement, according to media reports. Life in Kashmir was paralyzed with a curfew-like situation as people were asked to stay indoors. Kashmiris outside the state struggled to contact family members and other loved ones as communication lines remained down. The Indian government has not said when these measures would be lifted. In another late night move, authorities arrested two former chief ministers who had warned the government against taking such a step.
Political leaders from Kashmir called the move “illegal and unconstitutional.” A former chief minister of the state, Mehbooba Mufti, said it was the “darkest day in Indian democracy,” which would make India an “occupational force” in the region. Residents fear the move will also engineer a demographic change in the Muslim-majority area.
Legal experts said there appeared tenable grounds to challenge the order in court.
“It violates the text and spirit of the Constitution,” said Suhrith Parthasarathy, an expert on constitutional law. “Article 370 is the tunnel through which the Indian constitution is carried into the state. To make it inoperable, you have to take the people of the state into confidence. What the present order does is to effectively abrogate Article 370 through executive whim.”