Indian PM Narendra Modi insists Kashmir decision will be ‘big inspiration’ despite backlash
- Parts of Kashmir that India controls have been under lockdown since August 4, with freedom of movement restricted and phones and the internet cut
- Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since independence from Britain in 1947, and has been the spark for two major wars
Parts of Indian-held Kashmir have been under lockdown, with freedom of movement restricted and phones and the internet cut, since August 4.
A day later, New Delhi scrapped Article 370 in the Indian constitution that had granted Kashmir special status, splitting the state of Jammu and Kashmir in two and downgrading them to union territories.
In an Independence Day speech in New Delhi, Modi said the special constitutional status for the state of Jammu and Kashmir had encouraged corruption and nepotism, while creating injustice for women, children and minority communities in India’s only majority-Muslim region.
“Today, every Indian can proudly say ‘One Nation, One Constitution’,” Modi said.
He said “fresh thinking” was needed after seven decades of failure to ensure harmony in the picturesque but tragic former Himalayan kingdom, where tens of thousands have died in the past 30 years.