14 INDIA TODAY AUGUST 19, 2019The Big Story / J&K
erstwhile state’s special powers, includ-
ing that of the state legislature to draft
its own laws on all subjects other than
communications, defence and foreign
affairs. Gone also are J&K’s own con-
stitution, flag and penal code.
The air had been thick with specu-
lation over the preceding days. On Au-
gust 4, the Amarnath Yatra was abruptly
called off and pilgrims and tourists told
to leave the Valley. The trigger was said
to be the discovery of a terrorist plot to
attack the pilgrimage. Journalists were
shown a US-made sniper rifle, an IED
and hand grenades as evidence of ma-
levolent intent. Firing resumed along
the Line of Control (LoC) with Paki-
stan, with the Indian Army using 155
mm Bofors howitzers—among the rare
instances of the use of this heavy calibre
along the LoC since the 1999 Kargil war.
There was also an encounter, with the
army claiming that five men of the Paki-
stan Border Action Team, or BAT, had
been shot dead in the Keran sector. They
wanted Pakistan to take the bodies back.
WhatsApp forwards filled the in-
formation vacuum—from messages
suggesting the possibility of a massive
anti-terror operation to one coming
close enough by predicting that a tri-
furcation of the state was on the cards.
The government issued ultimatums to
tourists to leave Kashmir and police-
men visited hotels to ensure they com-
plied. Recalcitrant guests were asked
to report to Srinagar airport and some
were flown out in IAF transport.
On July 22, US president Donald
Trump had stunned New Delhi by
claiming Prime Minister Narendra
Modi had asked him to mediate in
Kashmir. The statement, made in the
presence of visiting Pakistan PM Im-
ran Khan, was immediately denied
by India’s ministry of external affairs
(MEA). The US, New Delhi suspects,
was playing the Kashmir card in lieu of
Pakistani assistance in getting its troops
out of Afghanistan before the US elec-
tions in November 2020. There was thus
a certain urgency within the government
to push the dilution through.
IntheRajyaSabha,theBJPmight
havebeeneightseatsshortofama-
jority,buttheHousepassedtheJ&K
ReorganisationBillwithatwo-thirds
majority.TheBJPevenhadthesup-
portofhostilepoliticalpartiessuchas
theAAP,TDPandBSP.AllyJD(U)op-
posedthebill,butbystagingawalkout,
itindirectlyhelpedtheBJP.W
hen the decision to scrap
J&K’s special status hit
the Valley, it was greet-
ed with befuddlement
and public anger over
the abruptness of the move. Most peo-
ple, however, were simply confused.
“We just have to accept whatever has
happened. Time will tell what impact
this will have on the people of Kash-
mir,” Rais Ahmed, a businessman in
Srinagar, said.
Within hours of Union home min-
ister Amit Shah’s August 5 speech in
Parliament, former chief ministers Meh-
booba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, who
were under house arrest from the night
before, were taken into custody. Muzaf-
far Ahmad, who runs a shawl business,
says the move has brought an end to thepolitics of Kashmiri leaders. “People are
confused right now. There is apprehen-
sion; nobody is sure what lies ahead,”
he says. The BJP, meanwhile, was in
raptures. ‘Ab desh mein ek vidhaan, ek
samvidhaan aur ek nishaan (One leg-
islation, one constitution and one flag
in the country now)’ ran the slogan in
its party offices.MISSION KASHMIR
Soon after the Rajya Sabha passed the
J&K Reorganisation Bill, PM Modi
walked up to his home minister. Shah
bowed reverentially and touched his
forehead to the PM’s hand. The PM pat-
ted him twice on the back. It was public
acknowledgement that Shah was the
author of this historic move.
When it came to J&K, Shah was a
man with a plan. “The only solution to
the J&K problem,’’ he had told india
today in 2017, “is removal of [Article]- It will be one bitter dose, but it will
solve multiple problems in one stroke.”
The BJP, he had then predicted, had
the will to do it “in future”, conscious
that the party was running a coalition
government in J&K with the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), which op-
Thevariousmilestonesinthejourneyoftheconstitutional
provision—fromitscreationto‘dilution’A CHEQUERED HISTORY
ARTICLE 370
October26, 1947
TheMaharajaof
Kashmir,HariSingh,
signstheInstrumentof
AccessionwithPrime
MinisterJawaharlal
NehruwherebyKashmir
decidestojoinIndia.The
firstIndia-Pakistanwar
breaksoutApril 1948
TheUnitedNations
SecurityCouncil(UNSC)
callsforaplebiscitein
Kashmir.SincePakistan
refusestowithdraw
troops,Kashmirispart-
itioned.Pakistanretains
‘AzadKashmir’aswellas
Gilgit-BaltistanOctober17, 1949
DirectedbyNehru,
cabinetministerin-
chargeofKashmir,Sir
GopalaswamiAyyangar,
draftsArticle 370 since
B.R.Ambedkarrefuses
todoso.Indiaadopts
Article370,conferring
specialstatusonJ&K