Article 370 restoration: India's top court to hear Kashmiri leaders' plea

NEW DELHI: India’s top court will hear a plea for the restoration of India-Occupied Kashmir’s statehood later this week, court officials said Tuesday.

The hearing, scheduled for August 8 in the Supreme Court, follows an application filed by two residents of Occupied territory.

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

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government in August 2019 revoked Occupied Kashmir’s limited autonomy and brought it directly under the federal control.

The move was accompanied by mass arrests and a communications blackout that ran for months as India bolstered its armed forces in the region to contain protests.

The Indian Supreme Court in December 2023 upheld removing the region’s autonomy but called for Jammu and Kashmir, to be restored to statehood and put on a par with other Indian federal states “at the earliest and as soon as possible”.

“We have moved an application seeking a definitive timeline for the restoration of statehood,” said the petitioners’ lawyer, Soayib Qureshi.

Last November, Kashmir elected its first government since it was brought under New Delhi’s direct control, as voters backed opposition parties to lead its regional assembly.

But the local government has limited powers, and the territory continues to be for all practical purposes governed by a India-appointed administrator.