SRINAGAR: Three years after the Indian government stripped Kashmir of semi-autonomy and brought its political activity to a halt, the region’s leaders say that restoration of democratic rights is essential to prevent a deterioration in the security situation.

Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir is part of the larger Kashmir, a territory which has been the subject of international dispute since the 1947 partition of the subcontinent into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan, with both countries claiming it in full and ruling in part.

The Indian government revoked the region’s autonomy on Aug. 5, 2019, promising security and reform in the state that has for decades witnessed outbreaks of insurgency to resist control from New Delhi. Special status was granted by Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which for seven decades was the basis of India’s complex relationship with the region.

 

Article 370 allowed the Muslim-majority region to have its own flag, freedom to make its own regulations on permanent residency, ownership of property, fundamental rights, and to bar Indians from outside the state from settling there.

With the constitutional change, Jammu and Kashmir was split into two federally governed union territories, which was followed by a total communications blackout, severe restrictions on freedom of movement, and detention of local leaders — some of whom still remain in jail.

Three years on, with a void in political activity in the region, those who had earlier represented Kashmir in India’s national politics say the situation is worsening.

Mehbooba Mufti, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir who heads the People’s Democratic Party, told Arab News that democracy, which is the fundament of India, has been “breathing its last for the last three years.”

“In Kashmir, being a conflict area, democracy is very, very important,” she said. “If you don’t give an outlet to the anger, to the emotions of people, it is going to burst at some point of time.”

Since August 2019, Indian authorities have intensified a crackdown on media and civil society groups, often resorting to counterterrorism laws. Thousands of additional troops have also been sent to the region, the world’s most militarized zone, where over 500,000 soldiers are stationed.

In a report released earlier this week, Human Rights Watch estimated that at least 35 journalists in Kashmir have faced “police interrogation, raids, threats, physical assault, restrictions on freedom of movement, or fabricated criminal cases for their reporting.”

“There are checkpoints, there are these bunkers everywhere, and there is this operation that nobody can talk,” Mufti said. “A politician was the one who could at least speak something.”

The last state elections in Kashmir were held in 2015, when Mufti’s party and Indian Prime Minister Naredra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party agreed to form the government.

The BJP withdrew its support for the PDP in 2018, toppling the government and putting the state under the direct rule of New Delhi. A year later, the autonomy was revoked.

Local assemblies have been empty since and no legislative elections have been scheduled.

When New Delhi abrogated the constitutional provisions that granted Kashmir its autonomy, Prime Minister Modi said a “new era” of development was beginning in the region where the scrapped provisions “had only given terrorism, separatism, nepotism and massive corruption.”

Altaf Thakur, spokesperson of Modi’s party in Kashmir, told Arab News that while in the beginning the arrest of political leaders was “required for the safety of the people,” currently democracy has been restored.

“There is a full-fledged democracy in Kashmir,” he said. “No matter which political party is there, all of them are doing more political activities. There is no restriction, there is no ban.”

But local leaders say that even elementary political rights are not being fulfilled.

Ghulam Hasan Mir, vice president of the regional Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party, said the democratic system is what the people of whole India have opted for but those in Jammu and Kashmir “have been left out.”

 

“There is dissatisfaction among the masses,” he said. “People want their own government.”

Mohmmad Yousuf Taragami, spokesperson of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration — a political alliance between several regional parties campaigning for restoring the region’s special status — also told Arab News that what the people of Kashmir demanded was equal rights.

“Give us rights that ordinary citizens are enjoying elsewhere. We are not demanding more,” he said, adding that the halting of political processes creates a void is not good for security, governance and peace.

“We must feel part of the whole society, that’s what we demand.”