India Revokes Special Status of Kashmir

SRINAGAR, KASHMIR, INDIA - AUGUST 30: Kashmiri protesters save themselves from the teargas during a protest against Indian rule and the revocation of Kashmir's special status, on August 30, 2019 in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian administered Kashmir, India. Dozens of Kashmir Muslim protesters were wounded in the Aanchar aera of Srinagar the summer capital of Indian administered Kashmir, after Indian government forces fired metal pellets and teargas shells at them when they were protesting against Indian rule and revocation of Kashmiri's special status. Indian authorities have deployed its thousands of government forces in Kashmir for the last four weeks after India revoked articles 370 and 35A, media face a continued communications blackout, as the lockdown enters its fourth week. Article 35A of the Indian Constitution was an article that empowered the Jammu and Kashmir state's legislature to define permanent residents of the state and provided special rights and privileges to those permanent residents, also preventing non-locals from buying or owning property in the state. Prior to 1947, Jammu and Kashmir was a princely state under the British Empire. It was added to the Constitution through a Presidential Order. The Constitution Order 1954, (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) was issued by the President of India on 14 May, 1954 in accordance with Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, and with the concurrence of the Government of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmir has been a state under siege, with both India and Pakistan laying claim to it. Human rights organizations say more than 80,000 have died in the two decade long conflict with the Indian government claiming the number as 42,000. (Photo by Yawar Nazir/ Getty Images)