ISLAMABAD: Not less than the October 27, 1947 when India forcibly occupied the state of Jammu and Kashmir by airlifting its forces to Srinagar, the August 5, 2019 turned out to be yet another darkest or blackest day in the history of Kashmir when India blatantly and shamelessly violated all moral, constitutional and political norms and deprived the state of its statehood by revoking its special status.
This all was done in sheer violation of not only India’s own constitution but contravention of all bilateral agreements and international obligations keeping in view the internationally recognized disputed nature of Kashmir. There could be many dimensions of the illegal measures taken by India on August 5, however, this article would shed light on two important aspects i.e. (i) post-5th August state of disputed territory; and (ii) on ground impact of these measures.
On August 5, 2019 India abrogated Article 370 of its constitution which according to India’s own claims was the basis of the state’s so-called accession to India. This article exempts the state from the Indian constitution and permits it to make its own laws in all matters except finance, defence, foreign affairs and communications in addition to have its separate constitution and a separate flag and denied property rights in the region to the outsiders.
Likewise, the article 35A, introduced in 1954 through a presidential order to continue the old provisions of the territory regulations under Article 370 permits the local legislatures in occupied Kashmir to define permanent residents of the region and forbids outsiders from permanently settling, buying land, holding local government jobs or winning education scholarships in the region.
In principle, the revocation of these articles, have virtually made India an occupier, which earlier was justifying its occupation to the so-called instrument of accession document. Now when even that so-called agreement has been revoked, the self-styled legal connections linking Kashmir to India do not exist. However, keeping in action around one million of its forces, India is managing the affairs in the state through direct control from the center.
It is noteworthy that the August 5 measures were not accepted by a single individual or political party, even the political parties working under the patronage of India raised their voice against these. For instance, Mehbooba Mufti, a former puppet chief minister of Kashmir who was in coalition with the BJP, termed the measures as theft on people of Kashmir and tweeted “The Fifth of August is the blackest day of Indian democracy when its Parliament, like thieves, snatched away everything from the people of Jammu and Kashmir,”
However, since India is forcibly occupying the territory, so it had intensified its forces in the occupied region to further its occupation. The measures of revocation of these articles was followed by new domicile rules and procedures introduced in the occupied Kashmir, thereby facilitating outsiders to attain domicile of the state. All these moves are focusing on only one big agenda i.e. to bring about demographic change in the disputed region, which currently is dominated by Muslims.–Agencies
