India’s Supreme Court concluded its hearing on Tuesday on a challenge to New Delhi’s 2019 imposition of direct rule in India’s illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), a swift decision that led to protests and mass arrests. Happened.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government suspended Article 370 of the constitution that guarantees limited autonomy to the occupied territory, which is home to a long-running independence movement against Indian rule.
A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud will now retire to consider whether the move was legal despite the lack of support from Parliament, usually required for constitutional change.
No time frame has been given for their decision.
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The Supreme Court in New Delhi heard for 16 days arguments from government lawyers, constitutional experts representing Kashmir’s pro-India political parties and others challenging the move.
India has deployed more than half a million soldiers at IIOJK over the decades.
Pakistan and India have fought three wars for control of the region, and an armed insurgency against Indian rule has resulted in the martyrdom of thousands of Kashmiris since 1989.
The suspension of the IIOJK’s semi-autonomous status allowed Indians to purchase land elsewhere and claim government jobs there, a policy condemned by critics as “populated colonialism”.
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Many residents and critics say the authorities have curtailed media freedom and public protests, severely curtailing civil liberties.
The Modi government defended the decision in court, saying the change had brought “peace, progress and prosperity” to the troubled region.
Consolidating New Delhi’s rule over occupied Kashmir has long been a key plank of Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
The frequency of armed clashes between Indian soldiers and freedom fighters has declined significantly in recent years as India works to consolidate its rule over the region.
