The Indian government on August 5 announced to repeal the special status given to the occupied Kashmir under the constitution’s Article 370 and Section 35 A, and bifurcated the region into two Union Territories – Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. The arbitrary move is feared to spark unrest in the disputed territory.
The latest move by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reflects its extremist ideology. There are a large number of Indian politicians who share the government’s ideology to further subjugate the people of Kashmir. At the same time, there are some sane voices who have sensible reasons to oppose this.
A group of politicians and other influencers fear that the abrogation of Article 370 will pave the way for the BJP’s dream of making India a Hindutva state to fulfill. They also fear that this may lead to scrapping special rights given to other Indian states such as Nagaland, Assam, Manipur, Andhra Pradesh and Sikkim under Article 371 A to I.
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Member of the opposition in Indian parliament and Congress president Rahul Gandhi declared it “an abuse of executive power” which had grave implications for national security. A senior Public Interest Lawyer and Activist Prashant Bhushan said it was unconstitutional.
A New Delhi based journalist raised the question that whether accession of the territory stood null and void now as it was conditional to Article 370 and Section 35A.
An Indian Parliamentary member P Chidambaram said the future generations would realize what a grave mistake the house had made.
TK Rangarajan said in Rajya Sabha: “Indian constitution has been raped by the BJP govt.”
Leader of Opposition in Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and President Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party M K Stalin expressed his party’s support for “Kashmiri brothers and sisters” and said he would oppose any assault on the federal structure.
India’s extremist and unilateral decision has dissented even those Kashmiri leaders who have been part of mainstream politics.
Former chief minister of the State of Jammu and Kashmir Sheikh Omar Abdullah said they would revive the demand of separate prime minister and president for the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti said it was a revocable link and, if India tempered with it, would revoke relations between Kashmir and India.
And now Pakistan’s historic stance on Kashmir:
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