Human rights abuse and terror in Jammu & Kashmir have been ongoing issues. And so are mass killings, torture, rape, sexual abuse and suppression of freedom of speech. They have been part and parcel of the region’s shady landscape. The Narendra Modi government’s move to scrap Article 370 of the Constitution through a Presidential notification comes as a well-timed masterstroke. It’s like rebooting Kashmir.
Article 370 guaranteed special status to J&K, allowed it to have its own Constitution besides separate laws for residents on citizenship and right to ownership of property making it a State within a State. The ramifications of the decision are not just that Article 370, but with it, also Article 35A becomes redundant. Article 35A empowered J&K to define who is a “permanent resident” and gave powers to its government to dole out special benefits to permanent residents besides giving exclusive rights to them in government jobs and buying of land.
Government’s move to bifurcate the state into two union territories “ J&K with a legislature, and Ladakh without one will change the political dynamics of the region. The isolated and discriminated Kashmiri Pandits will now breathe easy. However, the politically-strategic and unprecedented move will spark unrest because Article 370 is a sensitive issue that guaranteed autonomy to a Muslim-dominated State. Bringing the militancy-torn region under Central control would be another crucial test for the Modi government since the war within is not going to die down so soon.
While there was a huge and cry over the way the government bulldozed its way, there would be questions raised over the house arrest of senior political leaders and also restrictions on civil liberties. This could trigger an element of fear in the minds of the people just at a time when they set out to embark on a new journey.
While, Home Minister Amit Shah has gone about the task with clinical precision, questions remain over it standing the legal test. The bigger challenge would be in the Supreme Court which in the past has recognized the centrality of Article 370 in J&K’s relation with the Union of India.
Shah has exploited the Section 3 to his advantage. The recommendation of the Legislative Assembly of the State is mandatory for the president to issue such a notification. But since the J&K assembly was suspended in November and the State was under Governor’s rule, it set the perfect pitch for Shah to circumvent the law and proceed through the Governor. The question now is whether the J&K governor’s consent would be held legal in this case?
Shah was quick to announce a 10 per cent reservation on jobs and education to economically weaker sections in J&K. However, here again there is no clarity if the Modi government can bring about such changes without the State legislature ratifying them.
The transition from a State to two Union Territories is going to be fraught with major logistical and political hurdles, and it is to be seen how the Modi government overcomes these challenges.
