Revocation of Article 370: An Assault on International Law and Kashmiri Dignity

On August 5, 2019, the Indian government carried out one of the most controversial and draconian political moves in its modern history by unilaterally revoking Article 370 of its Constitution. This provision had granted the region of Jammu and Kashmir a special autonomous status, a constitutional guarantee that formed the very basis of the region’s accession to India in 1947.  This was not only a betrayal of India to its own constitutional commitments to the Kashmiri people, but also a wilful breach of international law, most notably with regard to numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions which acknowledge that Kashmir is a disputed territory and that a plebiscite awaits.

Abolition of Article 370 was actually accomplished without any authorization on the part of the Kashmiri people. By employing a Presidential Order and a vote by parliament, a fair process of the democratic regime was avoided, and the final pretense of autonomy to Kashmir was destroyed by the Indian government. What is worse is that all this was accomplished in the black hole of communications, with mass deployment of army personnel, arbitrary detention of local leaders and brutal lockdown to transform the valley into an open-air prison. Political activists and members of civil society were locked up in thousands after preemptive arrests. Voices of the people were muted into violence and fear.

Article 370 was a solemn undertaking in the past. This was not a compromise but the acknowledgement of the distinct identity, culture and political situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Its clauses safeguarded the demographic make-up of the region and allowed the legislature to have control over domestic affairs. This was the abrogation of this Article through which the doings of the Indian state were shown to be so weak enough to encounter the ideologically driven objectives. Or much rather instead of uniting the nation, the move ended up alienating many millions of Kashmiris thus creating a feeling of betrayal and being abandoned.

The act was also in contravention to international legal commitments. Since 1948, the right of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to decide their own future in a free and fair plebiscite was recognised in various resolutions adopted at the United Nations including UNSC Resolution 47. India had earlier in the world had promised not to unilateral alter the status of the region. That promise has been breached now. India has flaunted these resolutions and international diplomatic guidelines because it unilaterally changes the status of a disputed territory. This is not the act of a responsible state or country but one which forces itself on others with power and oppression.

At the center of this shift is the conscious effort to abolish the Kashmiri identity. By its elimination of clauses that prevented non-residents and the use of Article 35A which would have otherwise excluded non-residents, the Indian state has thrown open the doors to demographic shift. This can be easily viewed as an organized attempt to change the Muslim-majority nature of the region, of which the practice is deemed to repeat the decisions of the colonialism era when demographic engineering was practiced. The Kashmiris have started living in fear of becoming a minority in their own country. Their language, culture, land, political votes are battled.

This was not development that was left after the revocation as Indian government argued but a ruthless militarization campaign and suppression. The area of Jammu and Kashmir turned out to be one of the most militarized regions on earth, where close to a million of the Indian troops were spread all over the region. Shutdown of the internet that lasted months, denying press freedom, mass detention under the Public Safety Act, and imprisonment of journalists and activists have become the new norm. These allegations were reported by international human rights monitors, such as the United Nations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, that human rights violations, torture, unlawful arrests, forced disappearance and collective punishment of civilians were serious.

It is not only a case of law or politics but actually a humanitarian crisis to abolish Article 370. It has denied a whole lot of population of right, voice and dignity. The young people of Kashmir themselves hardly had a glimpse of hope with years of struggle and economic emancipation and now they do not see any hope of a next generation in the Kashmir. Lockdowns have crippled the active education system where there is misappropriation of interruption of economic activities with further deterioration of mental health problems as people live in continuous fear. Lives are destroyed, the light of hope has been lost and even the very definition of Kashmiri society has been torn asunder literally.

India likes to boast about itself as the biggest democracy in the world, yet, it is revealed through brutal acts in Kashmir. A democratic state cannot be run under censorship of millions of people, destruction of elected institutions and governance of a territory by force. Annexation had occurred in Kashmir but not the integration. And it was done not in the mood of harmony and solidarity, but a well planned occupation and conquest. It has been its hand that has tarnished its image of being a very pluralistic and federal state in India, forever. And the hypocrisy of a nation preaching of values of democracy and destroying those values in an area that never accepted the enslavement by this nation needs to be noted by the world.

Despite the suffering, the Kashmiri spirit endures. The people of Kashmir have not accepted this forced decision, and their resistance, both silent and vocal, continues. They remember the promises made by India, the assurances given at the United Nations, and the support of those who stand for justice. The Kashmir dispute is not a forgotten issue, nor can it be buried under legal amendments or constitutional trickery. It remains alive because it is rooted in truth, history, and an unyielding quest for dignity.

The international community has a moral and legal obligation to respond. Silence only emboldens oppressors. Kashmir needs more than sympathy; it needs decisive action. The United Nations must reassert its authority by holding India accountable for its violations. The world’s leading democracies must speak out against the erosion of human rights and support the Kashmiri people in their rightful demand for justice. The region deserves peace, not through occupation, but through dialogue, truth, and recognition of the people’s will.

The revocation of Article 370 will be remembered not as a symbol of progress, but as a moment of infamy, a moment when a state chose to betray its own constitution, its commitments to the world, and most importantly, its own people. The spirit of Kashmir cannot be erased by force. It lives on, resilient and unyielding, in every Kashmiri heart that refuses to bow down to oppression.