In Kashmir move, critics say, Modi is trying to make India a Hindu nation

To India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, eliminating the autonomy of Kashmir, a disputed, predominantly Muslim territory, was an administrative move, something his ministers had presented as simply a long-overdue “reorganisation.”

>>Jeffrey Gettleman, Kai Schultz, Hari Kumar and Suhasini Rajbdnews24.com
Published : 7 August 2019, 07:44 AM
Updated : 7 August 2019, 07:44 AM

But to Modi’s critics, the decision was an attack at the heart of India’s secular identity and a blow to a democracy that celebrates itself as one of the most free and stable in the developing world.

Kashmir remained on lockdown Tuesday, with the internet out and nearly all phone lines severed, and India faced mounting criticism.

The prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, lashed out at Modi, accusing him of promoting “an ideology that puts Hindus above all other religions and seeks to establish a state that represses all other religious groups.”

On Monday, Amit Shah, India’s home minister, delivered the stunning news on the floor of Parliament that the central government was unilaterally revoking the special status that Jammu and Kashmir had enjoyed as a semiautonomous state for decades and splitting the state into two federal territories.

Shah insisted this would bring better governance, a flood of outside investment and, most important, peace.

Many Indians supported him; they see Kashmir as a back door to Pakistan, and the sterner the action, the better.

The way Kashmir’s autonomy was erased, critics say, was like a coup. In the days leading up to the announcement, the government rushed in thousands of soldiers, arrested civilian political leaders, cut off the internet and disabled phone lines.

“This is a campaign to show the rest of the country that they are punishing Kashmiris and that they are going to strip us not only of our special status and identity, but also our dignity,” said Iltija Javed, the daughter of a Kashmiri politician, who succeeded in transmitting a message to The New York Times on Tuesday. “At the moment, none of us are allowed to even step out of the house.”

Kashmiris who managed to find Wi-Fi connections said that sporadic protests had erupted and that some civilians had been shot dead, but it was difficult to verify the information.

On Tuesday, lawmakers in the lower house of Parliament gave final approval to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill by an overwhelming majority.

Also Tuesday, a public-interest lawyer filed the first legal challenge to the government’s actions in the Supreme Court, which has a history of blocking some government decisions.

© 2019 New York Times News Service