India abolishes Kashmir special status with rush decree

प्रकाशित मिति : 5 August, 2019 5:39 pm

By : आशिष रानाभाट

Indian police erect barbed wire to stop vehicle movement during security lockdown in Jammu, India, Monday, Aug. 5, 2019. India’s government issued a revocation of the special constitutional status of its portion of Kashmir on Monday amid an uproar in Parliament and a huge troop deployment in the region. The constitutional provision forbids Indians from outside the region from buying land or permanently settling in the Muslim-majority territory. (AP Photo)

Pokhara

The Indian government on Monday rushed through a presidential decree to scrap a special status for disputed Kashmir, hours after imposing a major security clampdown in the region.

Home Minister Amit Shah told parliament that the president had signed a decree abolishing Article 370 of the constitution giving special autonomy to the Muslim-majority Himalayan region. The decree said the measure came into force “at once”.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947. The Indian-administered part of the territory has been in the grip of an insurgency for three decades that has left tens of thousands dead.