Two years have passed since New Delhi stripped Indian-administered Kashmir of its limited autonomy. The move, which is seen by activists and world leaders as illegal and based on the desire to change the Muslim-majority area’s demography, has dragged political activity into a deep crisis, with businesses struggling and the rights of people infringed upon by strict laws.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947, with both countries claiming the territory in full. Fighting in the Indian-controlled part has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians, dead. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government scrapped the region’s partial autonomy on Aug. 5, 2019, and split it into two federal territories, arresting thousands in a massive security operation and communications blackout that lasted months.
The Indian government annulled two laws of the Indian Constitution – Article 370 and Article 35A – that loosely governed India’s relationship with the disputed Muslim-majority region. Though hollowed out over the past seven decades through changes to India’s Constitution via underhanded methods and pliant Kashmiri pro-India regimes, Article 370 still nominally defined the region as having its own constitution and two houses of legislature that, unlike all other Indian states, could make laws independent of India’s Parliament. Article 35A barred all outsiders from purchasing property and applying for government jobs in the region. Effectively, it helped the local legislature to define the “permanent residents” of the region and safeguarded jobs and land rights, not only for the 68.31% Muslim majority but also the 28.43% Hindus minority and the nearly 4% of the population composed of other minorities.
Ahead of the second anniversary, security forces erected numerous new checkpoints and barricades across Srinagar with personnel in bulletproof gear checking vehicles and frisking residents on the roads. Suspected rebels fired at a police patrol in the northwestern Sopore area, but no one was injured, a police officer told Agence France-Presse (AFP). However, district police refuted the incident on Twitter.
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