IIOJK Special Status
The Supreme Court in India is poised to announce its verdict on Monday, December 11, regarding petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370, which granted special status to the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, leading a five-judge bench, heard the case for 16 days and reserved the verdict on September 5. Over 20 petitions, filed by senior lawyers, allege that the Indian government misused its parliamentary majority to issue executive orders and divide the occupied region into Union Territories.
In 2020, the Indian Supreme Court declined to transfer the case to a seven-judge Constitution Bench, retaining it within the five-judge bench. The Indian government, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, abolished the autonomous status of the occupied valley and deployed additional troops to quell potential protests.
The repeal of Article 370 allowed people from the rest of India to acquire property in the disputed territory and settle there permanently. Kashmiris perceive this move as an effort to alter the demographics of Muslim-majority Kashmir with Hindu settlers.
Pakistan strongly condemned the action, pledging to “exercise all possible options to counter the illegal steps” taken by India. India has stationed over half a million soldiers in the disputed region for decades.
The suspension of IIOJK’s semi-autonomous status enabled Indians from other regions to buy land and claim government jobs, viewed by critics as “settler colonialism.” Authorities have been accused of curbing media freedoms and public protests, resulting in a drastic curtailment of civil liberties.
Modi’s government defended the decision in court, asserting that it brought “peace, progress, and prosperity” to the restive territory. Consolidating New Delhi’s rule over the IIOJK has been a longstanding objective of Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
