Indian Revocation of Kashmir’s Special Status: Causes and Implications

Abstract

Conflict and enmity between Pakistan and India began in 1947, immediately following their independence, and have since led to three wars between them. Their relations have always been strained mainly because of the Kashmir issue. Kashmir issue is the unfinished agenda of third June 1947 formula. According to the 3rd June 1947 plan, Kashmir was to be a part of Pakistan but due to the various unjustified means, India kept it under her occupation. Till August 5th, 2019 Kashmir was enjoying a special status under the Article 370 of Indian constitution but on August 5, 2019 its special status was revoked by the Narinder Modi’s government through unilateral action and converted its temporary borders with Pakistan and China into international borders. Indian government ignored all the UN resolutions regarding Kashmir issue. The main focus of this research is to find out causes of the revocation of the Kashmir’s special status, its impacts on the people of Kashmir and its implications for lndo-Pak relations and the region. The study shows that Modi’s fascist, racist and anti-Muslim policy, demographic changes, extreme Hindu nationalism, the occupation of land, water and economic resources, geographical importance of the state and ideology of RSS were obvious reasons behind the abrogation of Article 370. This research is purely qualitative and descriptive. Secondary data were used to give answers to the various research questions.