On Monday, India’s Supreme Court upheld a 2019 decision to revoke the special status for the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to integrate Jammu and Kashmir more closely with the central Indian government, and implement local polls by Sept. 30 of next year.
- Challengers of India’s authority to decide the fate of the Muslim-majority region argued that only a constituent assembly of Jammu and Kashmir had the power to revoke its special status. The court declared that the region’s special status was only a temporary constitutional provision and that Jammu and Kashmir should return to functioning as states as soon as possible. PM Modi called the decision a “resounding declaration of hope, progress and unity.”
- Pakistani Foreign Ministery Jalil Abbas Jilani called India’s actions unilateral and illegal. He added that Kashmiris have a right to self-determination under U.N. Security Council resolutions. Kashmiris were among the numerous groups that opposed the revocation of the region’s special status. India bolstered security in the contested region ahead of the court’s decision.
