Kashmir Dispute:

Modi Government has reversed the special status of Kashmir by revoking the Article 370 and Article 35A
from the Indian Constitution through the legal procedure.

What is a Special Status given to Kashmir?

The special status given to Kashmir was coded in the Indian Constitution in the Article 370 and Article
35A. The Article 370 gives special autonomy to the Kashmir giving its own constitution and legislation
with the exception of defense, foreign policy communication and currency. According to this Article,
Kashmir has its own flag.

Article 35A states that a non-Kashmiri Indian cannot become a citizen of Kashmir. Also, it furthers that a
non-Kashmiri Indian cannot be a voter or participant in election either for state assembly and Lok
assembly. He or she cannot purchase real estate and immovable property e.g. shop, land, farm etc.

These two articles were removed by Narendra Modi to cease the autonomy of Kashmiri people and their
land.

Policies Being adopted by Narendra Modi for the reversal of Article 370 and Article 35A:

These Policies can be divided into three categories:

i. The legal steps been taken: Legal Procedure of Removing Article 370 and Article 35A which
was followed was that the Governor of Kashmir advised Prime Minister Narendra Modi to
pass Presidential Ordinance which was approved by both houses i.e. Rajya Sabha and Lok
Sabha in 2/3rd majority.
ii. The administrative steps been taken: The administrative step which was taken after the
dissolution of Article 370 and 35A was to divide the Kashmir into two territorial areas i.e.:
i) Ladakh: It would be considered as a union territory with no legislative assembly and
Elected government. Ladakh would be administered by the deputy Governor and
the President.
ii) Jammu and Kashmir: Kashmir would be considered as a state from now on. It will
have its own assembly and elected government but not the autonomous powers it
had under Article 370 and Article 35A.

Also, more than 7 lakh troops are already stationed in Kashmir. However, this number was
changed before the 5th August when Modi Government deployed more than 80 thousand
additional troops to both Ladakh and Kashmir.

Prolong Extensive Curfew has been imposed in the region which is now its in 60 days
running straightly. This non-stop curfew has banned the main stream media including
journalists from Kashmir, India and International media. There has been a complete media
blackout, journalists are not given access to the remote areas of Kashmir. Telephone and
Internet services are blocked.

The imprisonment of Kashmir leaders included Huraiyat Conference (Mirawaiz Farooqi,

Yasin Malik and Gillani) and Peoples diplomatic party that included Mehbooba Mufti and
Abdullah both father and Son have been put behind the bars to suppress their voice.
 According to a report published by BBC, more than 4000 Kashmiris have been imprisoned in
all jails of Kashmir. Some of the Kashmiri imprisoned people have also been sent to different
state jails like Haryana and Delhi.

Curfew is so severe that there is extreme shortfall of food and medicines. Mosques are
being lockdown to stop the gathering of Kashmiri people. The Indian Army is using pellet
guns and are using Kashmir as Human Shields.

iii. Diplomatic Politics:

Since August 5, the foreign minister of India has visited 70 countries in which major
countries like America, Russia, China, Middle Eastern world are included. These visits are
done in order to win over the support of the world. Though Donald Trump talks of
mediation on Kashmir Dispute but Modi has rightly opposed it that it is a bilateral issue.
Furthermore, key Arab Nations like UAE and Saudi Arabia didn’t support the stance of
Pakistan because of their economic diplomacy. UAE is having 100 Billion dollars’ trade with
the India, recently Modi was awarded the highest civil award to Narendra Modi. On the
other hand, Saudi Arabia has signed a deal with India with more than 40 Billion dollars.
About 25% of Reliance shared are bought by Saudi Arabia.

The legal debate of the reversal status:

There are two debates on special status:

i. The Indian parliament or center cannot reverse the Article 370 and Article 35A because
it should be initiated by the Kashmir assembly first by passing it by 2/3 majority. Once
the resolution is passed by Kashmir, then it will go to the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha
where it should be passed by 2 by 3rd majority. Then in the last stage, it will come down
to the president for signing it into law. The former Chief Justice of India has even stated
that it was not possible legally to revoke Article 35A and Article 370.
Kashmir High Court in a case commented even more rigidly that it is a permanent status
and it was to be reversed by the constituent assembly in 1957. Now that the assembly
does not exist, it cannot be reversed.
ii. When the Kashmir assembly does not exist then there is Governor Raj. Then on the
advice of Governor, the president can revoke the articles legally. This stance was
supported by the Hindu Nationalist group. But, politically this stance was weak because
it is the violation of:
i) UN Charter: The resolution of 1948-49 clearly state that both the parties cannot
make constitutional, geographic, legal and demographic changes to the
disputed territory of Kashmir
ii) Accession Treaty: This treaty was formed between Hari Singh and Nehru in
which the concept of Article 370 and Article 35A was adopted which existed in
the Kashmir constitution since 1927. Maharaja Hari Singh made a pre-condition
for Kashmir that it would enjoy special status which was agreed by the Delhi
government at that time. Article 370 was adopted in the Indian Constitution in
1949 while Article 35A was adopted in 1954.
 iii) Violation of Indian Constitution: India is a federation in which powers are
distributed between center and province. Due to these powers, Article 370 and
35A cannot be reversed by the Center by its own. Powers are given to units; it
can only be reversed by assembly of that particular state.
iv) Violation of Human Rights: Indian government has reversed the special status of
Kashmir because it would forcefully bring a demographic change in the region.
According to the press release of ICJ, it is the violation of UN Charter, Indian
Constitution and Human Rights.

Why Articles 370 and Article 35A were removed?

i- To bring a demographic change: Before the reversal of the status, Non-Kashmiri couldn’t
purchase land but now after the reversal of special status they can now buy land live there.
Modi intend to implement this change in three steps:
i) Paratroops of Kashmir who have served in Kashmir wants to live there for many
years, but due to Article 35A they couldn’t buy a piece of land.
ii) In order to establish Hindus in the region, Ladakh has been selected for the
settlement of Hindus in the region.
iii) Hindu Pandit Kashmiri who were forced out of Kashmir in the 1990s due to
insurgency, resettling of them in Kashmir because of their due rights which is
support by many Political parties.

Modi wants to initiate a demographic change because they want to turn the Muslim majority
state into Hindu majority. Plebiscite will take place sooner or later because India wants to
become the permanent member of Security council and for this reason they want to hold the
plebiscite.

ii- Party Manifesto: Modi Government wants to reverse the Kashmir Status because it was
already embedded in their party manifesto way before. In the election of 2014, Modi clearly
stated that it would be the political aim of the party to revoke the Article 370 and 35A. They
even initiated a goal by the name of Mission 44. According to this Mission 44, BJP wanted to
aim at claiming 44 seats out of 87 which will give the simple majority to pass the bill
regarding the annulment of Article 370 and Article 35A. However, the plan failed because
BJP was unable to acquire enough seats in the 2014 election. BJP won 27 seats and made a
coalition government with People democratic party. In order to achieve their aim, they
moved out of the government and asked the Governor to dissolve the Assembly which
establish the Governor Raj in the region.
After the election, it was obvious that Modi will reverse the decision.
iii- Modi is a populist leader because of his ideology of Hindutva. Hindutva is a word coined by
Servarkar in his book back in 1925 which means that the Hindu race is superior and original
inhabitants of the subcontinent are Hindus. According to this ideology, Muslims are invaders
while Christian are settlers from Europe. Due to this ideology, more than 20 Lakh muslims
were deprived out of their citizenship in Assam in the Modi led government. They see
Kashmir as an integral part of India and say that it is a one country and have no place for
special status.
Response of the Kashmiris:

Kashmiris for the first time in history of Kashmir are on the one page and united against the reversal of
autonomy of Kashmir. Political parties such as Hurriyat leadership was in always in favor of
independence but the Abdullah’s and the Mufti’s were in power mostly alternatively. A radical change
was observed in these parties after the revoking of the special status of Kashmir. Mehbooba Mufti
tweeted from her account that “Not going with Pakistan on the basis of two nation theory was a blunder
made by our own elders. Farooq Abdullah also opposed these actions by Indian Government.

Public is coming out of home in spite of curfew, their proportional is still low but the Original situation
would be far more disastrous after the lifting of curfew in the region. Experts predict that people will
come out in numbers more than they came out on the killing of Burhan Wani.

Response of the World:

i- Human Rights Watchdogs

i) Amnesty International: According to a report published by Amnesty International
“Let Kashmir Speak” more than 8 million peoples are being blackout from the
outside world. In this report, Amnesty international emphasized on the Human
rights that are being subjugated in Kashmir especially the freedom of speech.
Amnesty International demanded from the Indian Government that the curfew
should be lifted because it is human rights violation.
ii) UNHCR: According to a report published by UNHCR, there has been ongoing human
rights violation in the Kashmir valley. The reports state that more than 500 people
have been killed in the last 5 months.
iii) Genocide Watch: Genocide Watch is an international organization which watches
and prevent the racial genocide being done in the World. Genocide Watch have
already give two warnings to India one for Assam and one for Kashmir atrocities.
ii- International Media: International Media like BBC, Al-Jazeera, CNN, AJ Plus etc. have
highlighted the issue on the international media. Hundreds of Articles were written in the
support of Kashmiris and spoke for the human rights.
iii- International Organization:
Security Council: The UN security council meeting was held after 54 years for the talks on
Kashmir Issue. However, the talks were not effective as it would be but the session got the
attention from the international media and the issue was renewed after 54 years.
International Court of Justice: A press release was held by the International Court of Justice
jurists who said that this was against the very norms of International Law and the Indian
Constitution. They held the view that it was against the Human Rights to strip someone of
their basic rights.
Organization of Islamic Countries: They held a view that it was a deep concern for the OIC
that India unilaterally revoked the special status given to Kashmir. In addition, they said that
India is going against the International Law and are violating Human Rights of Kashmiris.
European Parliament: The European parliament spoke for the issue after 12 years, they said
that they were deeply concern about the issue in Kashmir and it should be resolved through
dialogue between the two countries.
 iv- Global Leadership: Global Leadership US, UK, Russia etc. spoke against the atrocities been
done in Kashmir and urged the two leaders of subcontinent to held talks and resolve the
disputes.

Response of Pakistan:

i) Severing relations with India:

i) Downsizing diplomatic relations with India
ii) Ban on the import of Indian products
iii) Not allowing Air space
ii) Highlighting the issue at the global front:
After the annulment of special status of Kashmir. Pakistan contacted many counterparts of
its own like Mahatir, Xi Jingpeng, Muhammad Bin Salman, Boris Johnson, Angela Merkel and
Tayyib Erdogan.
After 54 years the meeting of Security Council was called on Kashmir Issue which was a
major breakthrough for Pakistan. Minor communities in Pakistan protested against the
annexation of Kashmir into India.
In General Assembly of United Nations, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed the
General Assembly about Kashmir Issue. He criticized Modi for his annulment of special
status given to Kashmir and also spoke against the atrocities being taken on Kashmir. He
urged the world leaders to take the issue seriously. He further explained that if Pakistan was
cornered on this issue, it would use any weapons to defend itself.