Hundreds of people have marched in Pakistan-administered Kashmir to mark the sixth anniversary of India’s revocation of the disputed region’s semiautonomous status after confrontations between the two nations in May raised fears of a potential nuclear conflict.
The protesters on Tuesday demanded the restoration of statehood for the India-administered side of the Himalayan region, which has been split between the two nations and claimed by both in its entirety.
Article 370 of India’s Constitution granting its state of Kashmir and Jammu semiautonomous status was revoked on August 5, 2019, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government. The status had guaranteed special rights to the Muslim-majority state, including its own constitution and autonomy to make laws on all matters except defence, communications and foreign affairs.
In the lead-up to the move, India sent thousands of additional soldiers to the disputed region, imposed a crippling curfew, shut down telecommunications and arrested political leaders. Since then, numerous journalists and activists have been arrested under “anti-terrorism” laws, local communities have suffered from an influx of new residents and attacks are on the rise.
Tuesday’s main protest in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, drew hundreds of members of civil society and political parties. In the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, where similar anti-India protests were held, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar reaffirmed Pakistan’s moral and diplomatic support for Kashmiris seeking what he called “freedom from India’s illegal occupation”.
Mazhar Saeed Shah – a leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an alliance of pro-independence Kashmiri political and religious groups – urged the international community to help ensure Kashmiris are granted the right to self-determination, as called for in United Nations resolutions decades ago.
Meanwhile in Srinagar in India-administered Kashmir, supporters of the opposition India National Congress party rallied to demand that the government restore the statehood of the disputed region.
Heightened tensions between India and Pakistan
Tuesday’s rallies come nearly three months after Pakistan and India exchanged military strikes over a mass shooting in Pahalgam in India-administered Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Islamabad – a charge Pakistan denied.
It was the worst standoff by the nuclear-armed neighbours since 1999, and more than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides. The confrontation raised concerns about a possible military escalation before global powers defused the crisis. While the May 10 ceasefire has held, tensions are still simmering.
New Delhi last week said three Pakistani men who carried out the Pahalgam attack were killed during a gun battle on July 28 on the outskirts of Srinagar.
India’s top court will hear a plea for the restoration of Kashmir’s federal statehood this week, court officials said on Tuesday. The hearing, scheduled on Friday in the Supreme Court, follows an application filed by two residents.
The Supreme Court in December 2023 upheld removing the region’s autonomy but called for Jammu and Kashmir to be restored to statehood and put on a par with any other Indian federal state “at the earliest and as soon as possible”.
In November, Kashmir elected its first government since it was brought under New Delhi’s direct control as voters backed opposition parties to lead its regional assembly. But the local government has limited powers, and the territory continues to be for all practical purposes governed by a New Delhi-appointed administrator.
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