India’s top court hears petitions challenging removal of Kashmir special status
The Supreme Court of India has begun hearing a batch of petitions challenging the abrogation by the government of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that stripped the Indian-administered Kashmir of its special status.
The five-judge bench that has started hearing the petitions challenging the constitutionality of the legislation that scrapped Kashmir of its semi- autonomy is headed by the Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud.
These petitions were filed before the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
“The case is before the country’s top-most constitutional bench. We are optimistic as we know our case is very strong,” said Hasnain Masoodi, a member of parliament from Kashmir who was one of the first petitioners challenging the government’s decision.
“This constitutional framework provided a mechanism to be part of the Indian union. The abrogation was a betrayal and an assault on our identity,” he added, Aljazeera reported.
The abrogation was followed by the bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two federal territories – Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir.
Since 2019, the region is being directly ruled by the Hindu nationalist BJP government from New Delhi.
The Presidential Order of August 5-6, 2019 scrapped Article 370, which accorded special rights to the people of Jammu and Kashmir since 1954, in accordance with the terms on which the erstwhile princely state acceded to Union of India in 1947.
Since stripping the region of its special status, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also been trying to change the demography of the Muslim majority valley.
With more than half a million security personnel in the region, the valley has been undergoing an armed conflict since 1989, demanding self determination.
The decades long conflict has consumed the lives of tens of thousands of people.
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