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Thursday, March 14, 2024

New York Times slams India’s Kashmir move

A leading American newspaper has denounced Indian government's decision to strip Indian occupied Kashmir of its special status and called for preventing India’s folly from escalating into unpredictable regional crisis.

News Desk |

In an editorial, The New York Times called New Delhi’s move as dangerous and wrong.

It said the United States and China must not allow Kashmir to become a pawn in their ongoing disputes.

It said the United States, China, the United Nations and other powers with influence over India and Pakistan must urgently do what they can.

In a New York Times article – titled “What Is Article 370, and Why Does It Matter in Kashmir?” – the magazine shed light on how such an arbitrary constitutional change could have devastating effects on the Indian legal framework as a whole.

The constitutional changes, issued through a presidential order, could face numerous legal challenges. Last year, India’s Supreme Court ruled that Article 370 could not be abrogated because the state-level body that would have to approve the change went out of existence in 1957.

“My view is that this presidential notification is illegal,” said Shubhankar Dam, a law professor at the University of Portsmouth in Britain and the author of a book on executive power in India. “The question is one of jurisdiction: Does the government of India have the power to do this?”

PM  Modi is a Hindu nationalist whose campaign for re-election in part based on stoking patriotic fervor against Muslim-led Pakistan. He promised the full integration of Kashmir, a cause which his party has championed for decades, and now he is delivering on that pledge.

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Pakistan condemned India’s moves. Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan, called on President Trump to follow through on an offer he made two weeks ago to mediate the Kashmir dispute.

Pakistan, for its part, said it will “exercise all possible options to counter the illegal steps” taken by India.

PM Modi’s moves to integrate Kashmir into India are likely to be mixed reactions through the country. But there is widespread panic in Kashmir, where there have been decades of protests against Indian rule.