Making the People of the Kashmir Valley Second-Class Citizens | Arup Kumar Sen

The recent notification of the Indian State is a direct assault on the rights and dignity of the people living in the Kashmir valley. The Ministry of Home Affairs notified changes on 12 July, 2024, that enhanced powers of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Lieutenant Governor (LG). The Union Home Ministry amended the rules of the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019, “giving the LG unbridled powers over the police, public order, all-India services, and the anti-corruption bureau†. To put it in the words of The Telegraph (14 July, 2024): “The amendments suggest that the elected government, once it is formed, will have limited powers in crucial matters relating to internal security, transfers, prosecutions and the appointment of government lawyers, including the advocate-general.â€

The Opposition parties attacked the government for the notification. The former chief minister of J&K, Omar Abdullah posted in this context: “The people of J&K deserve better than powerless, rubber stamp CM who will have to beg the Lieutenant Governor to get his/her peon appointed.†(Quoted in The Hindu, July 14, 2024)

The present Lieutenant Governor’s track record in granting democratic rights to the residents of the Kashmir valley is not bright. “Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha’s administration has strictly barred pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Kashmir since the outbreak of the Gaza war and even shut down Jamia Masjid on several occasions to prevent an outpouring of support for Palestine.†However, on 15 July, 2024, “a thousand-strong Muharram procession in Srinagar’s city centre turned into a show of solidarity with Palestinians…, with protesters defying the administration by waving Palestinian flags and chanting anti-Israel slogans.†(Muzaffar Raina, The Telegraph, 16 July, 2024)

Very recently, the J&K Director General of Police (DGP), R. R. Swain, while speaking at a function at IIM, Jammu, said that the regional parties in the Kashmir Valley were responsible for Pakistan ‘infiltrating’ Kashmir civil society. He even accused them of “cultivating leaders of terror networks to further their electoral prospects.†(The Indian Express, 16 July, 2024)
The abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 ended the constitutional autonomy granted to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The very recent enactment of the central government and pronouncement of the DGP suggest that even if the regional parties get the verdict of the people in the forthcoming assembly elections to form the government, the Kashmir valley will be ruled by the Union government in the coming days.