Change of Kashmir’s status
In an unprecedented but not quite unexpected move, the BJP government has scrapped the 70-year-old Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that had accorded a special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). In fact, this was one of the points in the BJP election manifesto in the last general election which it has followed through on. But not only that, the BJP government has also bifurcated the state into two with J&K and Ladakh becoming Union Territories, the latter coming under the direct rule of New Delhi.
Admittedly, this is patently an internal affair of India, and under normal circumstances might neither merit any comment nor evoke much international interest were it not for the fact that the issue has to do with J&K. The state has a unique dynamic of its own, and the political developments in Kashmir have both direct fallouts and trickle-down effects. It affects not only the countries of South Asia but the consequences also go much beyond the region. One cannot lose sight of the fact that India and Pakistan have gone to war on Kashmir thrice since the partition of the subcontinent.
While it is not for us to question the rationale of the Indian leaders, who in their wisdom have thought it fit to do what they have done with Article 370, one is curious to ask, why, after seven decades, a ruling party in India thought it was appropriate to change a political dispensation accorded to a state whose accession to the Union of India in October 1947 was effected under a situation which was far from normal. While the BJP narrative is that the new arrangement has been compelled by the prevailing internal situation in J&K, the party also feels the new arrangements would enhance the development of the region. However, critics traduce the move as blatantly political and ascribe motives that go beyond the pious desire to bring peace in the valley.
The state of J&K has been strife-ridden for a while but statistics show that the incidents of terror have gone down considerably in the state post-1990s. One only hopes that the desired purpose for which the Act was repealed would be fulfilled, alienation of the people of J&K would disappear, and there would be lasting peace and development in J&K.
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