Top India court to weigh legality of Kashmir direct rule

Srinagar, India (AFP):

India’s top court has begun considering a challenge to the 2019 imposition of direct rule in Indian Occupied Kashmir, a decision accompanied by mass arrests of Kashmiris and a months-long internet blackout.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government suspended a section of the constitution that guarantees limited autonomy to the disputed region, home to a long-running struggle for freedom from oppressive and brutal Indian rule over the Muslim state.

Modi’s government defended the decision in an affidavit sent to the court on Monday, saying the change had brought “peace, progress and prosperity” to the restive territory.

However, Kashmiri politician Omar Abdullah, whose National Conference party helped bring the case, said the government rationale for its decision was irrelevant.

The court would have to weigh “the illegality & unconstitutionality of what was done,” he said on Twitter. “Not whether the (government) has a strong enough political case.”

A bench agreed the case could continue and adjourned the case for oral arguments in August.

India has for decades stationed more than half a million soldiers on the part of divided Kashmir under its occupation, which is claimed by Pakistan.

Indian forces are accused of having killed tens of thousands in the Muslim-majority territory since 1989.

Consolidating New Delhi’s rule over its portion of the territory has long been a key plank of Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

The imposition of direct rule in 2019 was accompanied by the detention of thousands of people across Kashmir including almost all local political leaders.

A months-long internet shutdown throttled communication in the territory as India bolstered its armed forces in the region in an effort to contain protests against the move.

Critics say that authorities have curbed media freedoms and public protests in a drastic curtailment of civil liberties.

Settling Hindus 

The Indian government has also embarked upon a drive to settle Hindus in the Muslim-majority territory. The suspension of Kashmir’s semi-autonomy in 2019 facilitated Hindus from elsewhere to buy land and claim government jobs in the Muslim territory, a policy that is curiously close to Israel’s “settler colonialism” in Palestine.

Hundreds of new laws, replacing local ordinances, have since been promulgated by the region’s New Delhi-appointed governor.

The frequency of armed clashes between Indian soldiers and freedom fighters has dropped significantly in recent years as India works to tighten its grip over the territory.

Last year, at least 253 Kashmiris died in the region, according to official records.

Several prominent pro-freedom Kashmiri leaders including Yassin Malik continue to languish in Indian prisons.