Srinagar, The revocation of Article 370 by India’s government on August 5, 2019, has led to significant changes in the governance and social fabric of Jammu and Kashmir, escalating concerns over regional stability and human rights, a new report suggests.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the abolition of the article, which had provided the region with special autonomy, marks the beginning of a broad socio-political transformation in Indian-administered Kashmir. The report indicates that this transformation is part of a deliberate attempt by the current Indian government to implement a Hindutva-centric agenda, reshaping the region’s demographic and cultural identity to align with nationalist policies.
The report details how these changes have involved a combination of legal adjustments, political strategies, and cultural shifts, which it describes as a settler colonial project steered by the Hindutva ideology. It includes altering educational curricula, imposing new linguistic policies, and promoting Hindu cultural symbols and pilgrimages, which the report argues are designed to erode the Muslim identity of Kashmir.
The implications of these policies, the report warns, extend beyond the local impact on Kashmir’s Muslim community, threatening broader regional stability and leading to severe human rights violations. It calls for urgent international attention and intervention to prevent further ideological and demographic shifts and to protect the rights of Kashmir’s residents, including their right to self-determination.