India's top court upholds end of special status for Kashmir, orders polls
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State polls in Jammu and Kashmir will have to be held by Sept 30, 2024.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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NEW DELHI – India's Supreme Court upheld on Dec 11 a decision in 2019 by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to revoke special status for the state of Jammu and Kashmir
It also set a deadline of Sept 30, 2024, for state polls to be held.
The territory of Jammu and Kashmir is India’s only Muslim-majority region.
It has been at the heart of more than 75 years of animosity with neighbouring Pakistan
The unanimous order by a panel of five judges came in response to more than a dozen petitions.
They had challenged the revocation and a subsequent decision to split the region into two federally administered territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and the Buddhist territory of Ladakh.
The ruling sets the stage for elections in the region, which was more closely integrated with India after the government's contentious move, taken in line with a key longstanding promise of Mr Modi's nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The decision is a shot in the arm for the government ahead of general elections due by May 2024.
The challengers maintained that only the constituent assembly of Jammu and Kashmir could decide on the special status of the mountain region. They also contested whether Parliament had the power to revoke it.
The court said special status was a temporary constitutional provision that could be revoked by Parliament. It ordered that the federal territory should return to being a state at the earliest opportunity.
“Article 370 was an interim arrangement due to war conditions in the state,” Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said, referring to the provision in the Indian Constitution which provided the special status after the first India-Pakistan war over the Himalayan region.
“Textual reading also indicates that it is a temporary provision,” Justice Chandrachud said.
Jubilation, disappointment
Mr Modi called the judgment “a beacon of hope, a promise of a brighter future”.
“It is a resounding declaration of hope, progress and unity for our sisters and brothers in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh,” Mr Modi posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“The court, in its profound wisdom, has fortified the very essence of unity that we, as Indians, hold dear and cherish above all else.”
The territory is divided among India, which rules the populous Kashmir Valley and the Hindu-dominated region of Jammu; Pakistan, which controls a wedge of territory in the west; and China, which holds a thinly populated high-altitude area in the north.
Political parties in Kashmir that opposed the revocation, and were among those that went to court, said they were disappointed by the verdict.
Security was stepped up before the verdict in a region roiled by militant violence and protests since the start of an anti-India insurgency in 1989.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed although violence has tapered off in recent years.
“Disappointed but not disheartened,” Mr Omar Abdullah, a former chief minister and vice-president of the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference party, posted on X. “The struggle will continue. It took the BJP decades to reach here. We are also prepared for the long haul.”
Ms Mehbooba Mufti, another former chief minister and president of the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party, echoed those views.
“The people of J&K are not going to lose hope or give up. Our fight for honour and dignity will continue regardless. This isn’t the end of the road for us,” she posted on X. REUTERS
