Lieutenant Colonel Khalid Taimur Akram (Retd)
Executive Director, Center for Global & Strategic Studies (CGSS), Islamabad
During the election campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented the heinous idea of stripping Kashm ir from their fundamental human rights. The manifesto which the BJP presented before the 2019 election depicts the contemporary Indian state policies. It says “nationalism is our inspiration, economic development of the poor and backward sections our philosophy, and good governance our mantra.” After securing the 2019 General Elections, the focus of the BJP was the manifestation of BJP’s ideology i.e. “Hindutva- India for Hindus.” This means that India belongs to Hindus only in which minorities, particularly the Muslims, are excluded or live under the oppression of Hindu dominance. For the realization of its ideology, Prime Minister Modi and the ruling party BJP has made the foundation for a Hindu State by abrogating Article 370, on August 05, 2019.
The article 370 claimed that the State of Jammu and Kashmir had a special status. This means, in case of making any law related to Jammu and Kashmir, the recommendation of the State is necessary before the President of the India issues any ordinance (Art-370(2)). The Parliament’s recent move to abolish Article 370 has jeopardized the fundamental rights of the people of the Kashmiris. By revoking Article 370, Kashmir will lose autonomy that it enjoyed under the Article. It will allow other Indians to buy the property in Kashmir and lead to their permanent settlement. Furth ermore, the Article had abstained the outsider to get work and public sector jobs in the State and retained the employment opportunities for the local Kashmiri people. The Indian Constitution reserved the same rights for the people of Telangana and Manipur.
The irony is that there are other states in India having the same status like Jammu and Kashmir but the government has only presented the bill to revoke the special status of Kashmir and not against other states like Nagaland, Assam, Manipur, Sikkim, Mizoram or Telangana. The Constitution of India gives the same special status to some of the other Indian States as well. Article 371-A and Article 371-G, secure the social and religious practices, including the ownership and transfer of land and resources of the State of Nagaland and Mizoram. The articles say that no President order or act of the Parliament shall apply to the State of Nagaland without the consent of the constituent assemblies of the respective state. Article 371-D guarantees equitable opportunities and facilities of the people of the State of Telangana. Any act regarding public employment and education shall need the Presidential order, concerning the State of Telangana. Furthermore, Article 371F and Article 371B gives the same status to the State of Assam and Sikkim. Article 371-C Manipur says that any presidential order related to the rules of the business of the hilly areas of Manipur shall be first presented before the legislative assembly of Manipur.
Lock Down and House Arrest
The decision of the Government to scrap the Article 370 was not spontaneous, rather it was planned and structured. The BJP has more than the two-third majority in the Lok Sabha. The Hindu nationalism of the BJP has undermined all the constitutional and judicial procedures. The government used the exact same scandalous and wicked maneuvers that India had used during partition and ignored the Muslim majority like Hyderabad Deccan and Junagadh, in 1948. Another recap happened on August 05, 2019 when the Indian government enhanced the number of troops and police in occupied Kashmir and locked down Kashmir.
But the move did not happen in a stable environment. A night before (August 04), the Government had cut down the communications that included internet and landline services. On August 03, the Indian authorities evacuated Kashmir and forced students, Hindu pilgrims and tourists to leave the territory. Once again the Indian authorities did not hesitate to blame Pakistan and successfully built a narrative that there was evidence that Pakistani based militant groups had planned terrorist attacks in Kashmir. The malevolent blames did create panic among the visitors and pilgrims but the reality could not support the false blames. Instead, such strategies were used by the Indian authorities to lock down the Kashmir as the government pushed the bill in the Parliament to revoke Article 370 and strip the State of Kashmir from its special status. Furthermore, the government has increased the number of troops and paramilitary forces and currently around 700,000 soldiers are stationed in Kashmir.
Not only the general public but the political figures of Kashmir are also facing the brutality of Indian forces. One of the main figure of Kashmir’s independence Yasin Malik has been under arrest since February 2019. Political leaders like Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah have also been placed under house arrest.
Scrapping the Article 370
On August 05, 2019 the government revoked Article 370 that brought an end to the special status of Kashmir under the Constitution. By removing Article 370, the rights and status of permanent residents with regard to the State of Jammu and Kashmir, has also become ineffective.
The move to revoke Article 370 did not come as a surprise. Such intentions were expressed by the BJP leaders’ way before the 2019 elections. In fact, the annulment of the Article and stripping Kashmir from its special status followed a chain reaction after the Pulwama attack, which took place on February 14, 2019. Just after the attack, National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval had informed his counterpart in the United States that India was seriously considering the option of abrogation of Article 370. On August 01, the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during an additional meeting at the 9th East Asia Summit and reiterated the same intention of the Modi’s government.
Indian’s worries got exacerbated and exasperated after the recent successful visit of Prime Minister Imran khan to the Unites States when President Donald Trump once again offered to play the role of mediator between India and Pakistan over the disputed issue of Kashmir. The BJP and PM Modi had the intention to take away the special status of Kashmir but one of the main reasons may be the statement of President Trump.
Is India for Hindus Only?
Including Kashmir there are nearly six other states that enjoy the special status, that is guaranteed under the Constitution of India, as mentioned before. But the question arises why the Indian government has targeted only Kashmir? There are three main reasons why the BJP government has only scrapped Article 370 that deals with the special status of the State of the Jammu and Kashmir.
Hindutva Ideology: The current PM of India, Narendra Modi has been an active member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) i.e. ideological and rightist militant wing of Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP). RSS also considered as the parent organization of the BJP and it works on the promotion of the ideology of “Hindutva”, that says India is for Hindus. The revocation of Article 370 is the manifestation of this ideology.
The Demography of Kashmir: Kashmir is the only majority Muslims state in India, which had autonomous status before 5th August. Such a majority region was an obstacle for the materialization of the Hindutva ideology of BJP. By dropping Article 370 from the Indian Constitution will allow outsiders, commonly Hindus, to buy a property and hold public offices.
BJP leader Ram Madhav said that the idea is under consideration that some 200,000 to 300,000 Hindus will be settled in the region. This means that the influx of Hindus will be huge that will change the demography of the region and probably convert the majority into a minority in a couple of years. This demographic change will further weaken the objection of Pakistan over Kashmir.
Strategic purpose: The territory of Kashmir also bears the strategic purpose for India. Once the act of abrogation of Article 370 finally gets passed by the Parliament, then the territories of Jammu and Kashmir would not be far from the capital of Pakistan i.e. Islamabad. The whole occupation of Kashmir will give an extra advantage to the Indian military to install their facilitations close to Pakistan administered Kashmir. Which means Islamabad will only be a couple of hundred miles away from Indian occupied Kashmir. A major factor is the water resources. Most of the rivers pass through Kashmir. Laddakh is especially critical since that Indus river emanates from there.
Prime Minister Modi’s move is totally unconstitutional and illegal as it did not follow any constitution amendment or legal procedure, instead, it was part of the ideology of BJP. The annulment of the Article implicitly states that there is no space for minorities in contemporary India.
Conclusion
The newly re-elected government which is headed by the right-wing Hindu nationalist BJP has come with a plan to make India a country for Hindus where minorities, particularly the Muslims, have to adapt themselves to the Hindu custom and tradition or live under Hindu suppression forever. One of the main development, for the realization of Hindu State happened on August 05, 2019, when the incumbent government introduced the bill to revoke the Article 370 that guarantees the special status to the territories of Jammu and Kashmir. Along with Jammu and Kashmir, there are six other states that enjoy the same rights under the Constitution. The move to strip only Jammu and Kashmir form its fundamental rights is the obvious manifestation of BJP’s ideology i.e. exclusion of Muslims. In the coming election of Raja Sabha, according to Shashi Tharoor, BJP will soon have the majority in Raja Sabha as well which is the only obstacle for BJP to wholly change the Constitution. According to the leaders of BJP, the current Constitution of India does not represent the true India i.e. India for Hindus. The confiscation of fundamental rights of the people of Kashmir is just the beginning of the materialization of the repressive ideology of BJP.
The revocation of Article 370 has also put the provisions of Article 371 in serious jeopardy, that deals with the special status of the other six states. If such practices of the current PM Modi and his Hindu Nationalist party continue, the biggest democracy of the world will soon face an irreversible constitutional crisis.
