‘Disempowering day’: Kashmiri political leaders mark 4 years since special status revoked

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA): On the fourth anniversary of India’s revocation of the special status of Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the mainstream political leaders in the region called it a “disempowering day for the people of the region.”

People’s Conference President Sajad Lone said that the belittling of institutions, individuals and the people of the region continues.

“For those patting their own backs and believing in their own fiction — don’t mistake fear for consent,” he said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

On August 5, 2019, the Indian government revoked the special status of the occupied region accompanied by a security clampdown and a complete communication blackout in order to smother dissent. The move’s immediate implications were that India’s only Muslim-majority region lost its flag, criminal code and constitution.

Mehbooba Mufti, the former chief minister and head of the People’s Democratic Party, claimed that she along with other senior party workers have been put under house arrest. She also said that some of her party members were “illegally detained” in police stations.

“Government of India’s false claims about normalcy to the Indian Supreme Court stands exposed by their actions driven by paranoia,” she said on X.

However, Manoj Sinha, the lieutenant governor of the region, defended the unconstitutional abrogation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and said: “The biggest change that is visible on the ground is that the common people of Jammu and Kashmir are living life according to their own wishes.”

“Street violence has ended,” he added.

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in part, but claimed by both in full. A small sliver of the region is also controlled by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought three wars – in 1948, 1965, and 1971 – two of them over Kashmir.

The largest part of Kashmir is under Indian occupation, being denied the right to self-determination. Indian occupation of the region has been iron-fisted, oppressive and brutal. Thousands continue to languish in prisons, including the popular leader Yassin Malik who is on death-row. Human rights groups have often raised alarm over abuses and excesses of the occupying Indian army in the region — most of which go unaccounted for.

According to the Indian constitution, the territory had been recognized as an autonomous unit. However, New Delhi revoked the special status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019.

India accuses Pakistan of helping Kashmiri groups seeking liberation. These groups have for years battled Indian occupation forces. Pakistan denies the allegation and upholds the right of Kashmiris for self-determination through the holding of a plebiscite — which India has rejected, despite UN resolutions to this effect.