 |
| Image Source: Al-Jazeera |
The Supreme Court has upheld Prime Minister Narendra Modi's end of semi-autonomy of Indian-administered Kashmir
In a major blow to Kashmiri political groups, India's Supreme Court has upheld a 2019 decision by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to revoke the special status of Indian-administered Kashmir, which made it autonomous. A degree was given.
The disputed Himalayan region is
claimed in its entirety, although it has been partially ruled by both India and
Pakistan since independence from Britain in 1947. The nuclear-armed neighbors
have since fought three of their four wars.
The court hearing began in August on a petition filed by Kashmiri individuals and groups.
The decision is a major boost for the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of general elections in May. The BJP's 2019 decision was a campaign promise to scrap Article 370, which gave special status to the disputed Himalayan region.
Here's what you need to know about
this issue:
What does Monday's decision say?
In its judgment, the Supreme Court said that Jammu and Kashmir should be restored to the status of a single state like any other Indian state - with no separate autonomy rights - "at the earliest and at the earliest".
A five-judge constitution bench of
the Supreme Court ruled that the special status of the region was a
"temporary provision" and its removal in 2019 was constitutionally
valid.
"Article 370 was an interim
arrangement due to the war situation in the state," Chief Justice DY
Chandrachud said, referring to the clause in the Indian constitution that
overruled the Hindu-ruled Muslim-majority Kashmir's agreement to join India in
1947. Special status was provided after signing. .
As part of the instrument of accession, India allowed Kashmir to retain its own constitution, flag and criminal code. Kashmir had its own prime minister and president until 1953, when New Delhi jailed its prime minister, Sheikh Abdullah, and abolished the post in what it said were efforts to integrate the Muslim-majority region with the rest of India. .
Kashmir has been the center of
hostilities between India and Pakistan for more than 75 years.
Pakistan claims Kashmir as its own territory, saying the Muslim-majority region should have been part of the new state of Pakistan, created after the end of British colonial rule following the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. was
The First Kashmir War began shortly after partition and ended in 1949 with a UN-brokered ceasefire that divided Kashmir into Pakistani and Indian-administered territories.
What is Article 370?
Article 370, which came into force
in October 1949, gave Kashmir autonomy of internal administration, allowing it
to make its own laws in all matters except finance, defence, foreign affairs
and communications.
The Indian-administered territory established a separate constitution and a separate flag and denied property rights to outsiders in the territory.
Article 35A, a further provision added to Article 370 in 1954, empowered state legislatures to ensure special rights and privileges to permanent residents of the state.
Along with the abrogation of Article
370, Article 35A was also scrapped, allowing non-Kashmiris to buy property in
the region and raising fears that India was trying to engineer a
"demographic shift" in the Muslim-majority region.
In 2019, the Modi government also divided Kashmir into two regions – Jammu and Kashmir in the west and Ladakh in the east – to be governed directly from New Delhi. Kashmir lost its flag, penal code and constitution enshrined in Article 370.
No regional elections have been held
in the two regions since then, but the Supreme Court ordered
Indian-administered Kashmir to hold local legislative elections by September 30
next year.
What is the reaction to this decision?
Modi called the decision "a ray of hope, a promise of a brighter future and proof of our collective resolve to build a stronger, more united India".
"The court, with its profound wisdom, has reinforced the essence of unity that we, as Indians, hold dear and value," he said in a post on X.
Those challenging his government's
2019 decision maintained that only the Constituent Assembly of
Indian-administered Kashmir could decide on the region's special status and
contested whether the Indian parliament had the power to revoke it. .
"Disappointed but not
disappointed," Omar Abdullah, former chief minister and vice-president of
the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Party, posted on X. "The
struggle will continue. It took decades for the BJP to reach this point. We are
also ready for a long journey."
Mehbooba Mufti, another former Chief
Minister and president of Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party, also
echoed these views. "People of Jammu and Kashmir are not going to lose
hope or give up. Our fight for honor and dignity will continue. This is not the
end of the road for us," he posted on X.
Many Kashmiris see the 2019 decision
as annexation, saying the new laws are designed to change the region's
demographics. Members of minority Buddhist communities initially welcomed the
move, but many later expressed fear of losing land and jobs in the Himalayan
region.
(Source: Al-Jazeera)
0 Comments