In India, the BJP government has revoked Article 370 of the constitution through a presidential order, ending the special status given to state of Occupied Kashmir.
Indian President Ram Nath Kovind issued the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order 2019 today, which has superseded the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order 1954.
Under the order, the special status of Jammu and Kashmir has been abolished and it has been made a Union Territory under the Indian Federation.
Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution guarantee special status and special rights to the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir and all powers, except defence, foreign affairs, and communication, rest with the State Legislature.
Indian Home Minister Amit Shah told the Upper House of the parliament Rajiya Sabha that Jammu and Kashmir is now a Union Territory with legislature, and it is no more a State. He also announced that Ladakh will also be union territory without legislature.
Amit Shah also announced that Jammu and Kashmir would be re-organized geographically.
Rajiya Sabha witnessed complete rumpus as Amit Shah made the announcement and the opposition benches strongly resisted the move.
Leader of the Opposition from Occupied Kashmir Ghulam Nabi Azad denounced the move and said that Jammu and Kashmir is already under a state of curfew and all political leaders have been put under house arrest.
Ghulam Nabi Azad said there is a war like situation in Occupied Kashmir.
The entire Kashmiri leadership has taken a serious view of the Indian government’s move and described it a usurpation of the rights of the people of Occupied Kashmir.
In a tweet, former State Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said today marks the darkest day in Indian democracy.
She said the unilateral decision of the Indian government to scrap Article 370 is illegal and unconstitutional.
According to latest reports, the Indian government has airlifted eight thousand personnel of Central Reserved Police Force to Jammu and Kashmir.
This is an addition to the 28,000 troops which India sent to the territory last week.
Meanwhile leader of National Conference Omar Abdullah has attacked the Centre over its move to scrap Article 370 that grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir, calling the move ‘deceit and stealth’ and warned that it will have ‘dangerous consequences’.
In a statement the former Chief Minister of Occupied Kashmir said the Indian government has unilateral and shocking decisions are a total betrayal of the trust that people of Jammu and Kashmir had reposed in India when they acceded to it in 1947.
He said the New Delhi has resorted to deceit and stealth to lay ground for these disastrous decisions.
He said the move is unilateral, illegal and unconstitutional and will be challenged by the National Conference.