The top court in India upheld on Monday a decision made by the administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold elections within a year and to remove the limited autonomy of Kashmir, a region with a majority of Muslims where an insurgency has raged for decades.
The Supreme Court stated in its decision that the 2019 proclamation was “a culmination of the process of integration and as such is a valid exercise of power”.
As India reinforced its armed personnel in the area to quell protests, the move was accompanied by the imposition of direct authority from New Delhi, mass arrests, a complete lockdown, and a communication blackout that lasted for months.
Modi’s muscular policy has been deeply controversial in Kashmir but was widely celebrated across India, with the insurgency that claimed tens of thousands of lives over decades largely quietened.
The removal of Article 370 of the constitution, which enshrined the Indian- administered region’s special status, was challenged by Kashmir’s pro-India political parties, the local Bar Association and individual litigants, culminating in Monday’s verdict.
The court upheld removing the region’s autonomy while calling for Jammu & Kashmir, as the Delhi-administered area is known, to be restored to statehood and put on a par with any other Indian state “at the earliest and as soon as possible”.
The court also ordered state elections to take place by September 30, 2024.
Security was stepped up across Indian-administered Kashmir ahead of the verdict, with authorities deploying hundreds of soldiers, paramilitary troops, and police in the main city of Srinagar to thwart any protests.
Modi welcomed the judgement as “historic”.
It was “a beacon of hope, a promise of a brighter future and a testament to our collective resolve to build a stronger, more united India”, the Hindu nationalist leader posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Since the party’s founding, eliminating Article 370 has been a central tenet of his Bharatiya Janata Party agenda. The Supreme Court’s ruling coincides with next year’s elections.
Mehbooba Mufti, the former chief minister of Kashmir and a member of the BJP-led government; her party was one of the parties involved in the Supreme Court case. She denounced the verdict, calling it a “death sentence not just for Jammu and Kashmir but also for the idea of India”.
