India’s Modi welcomes ‘historic’ court ruling ending Kashmir’s special status, polls also ordered for 2024

Unanimous order came in response to petitions challenging the revocation and a subsequent decision to split the region into 2 federally administered territories

PM Modi called the ruling a ‘beacon of hope, a promise of a brighter future and a testament to our collective resolve to build a stronger, more united India’

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India’s Narendra Modi has praised a ‘historic’ court ruling that has revoked the region of Kashmir’s autonomy. Photo: dpa

Published: 4:37pm, 11 Dec 2023Updated: 5:01pm, 11 Dec 2023

India’s top court on Monday upheld a move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to revoke the limited autonomy of Muslim-majority Kashmir, where an insurgency has raged for decades, and ordered elections within a year.

The 2019 declaration was “a culmination of the process of integration and as such is a valid exercise of power”, the Supreme Court said in its verdict.

The move was accompanied by the imposition of direct rule from New Delhi, mass arrests, a total lockdown and communication blackout that ran for months as India bolstered its armed forces in the region to contain protests.

Modi’s muscular policy has been deeply controversial in Kashmir, but was widely celebrated across India, with the insurgency that claimed tens of thousands of lives over decades largely quietened.

The removal of Article 370 of the constitution, which enshrined the special status of the disputed region, was challenged by Kashmir’s pro-India political parties, the local Bar Association and individual litigants, culminating in Monday’s verdict.