Beyond Article 370

For over 70 years, Article 370 of the Indian Constitution was seen as almost an article of faith by a section of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

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A tiny part of a huge Constitution that had, as if, ingrained itself into the collective psyche of a people. While through the decades, Article 370, and the so-called special status that it had given J&K, had lost much of its import, the Supreme Court of India, through its December 11 judgment (in which it upheld the abrogation of the article in August 2019), has finally brought matters to a legal closure.

The real challenge now is to bring matters to a political closure to give all the stakeholders a real interest in sustainable, sustained, and shared peace. There are five steps that can and must be taken so that the foundations of a truly Naya Jammu and Kashmir can be built, even while Article 370 has almost permanently been buried into the annals of history. First, and most important, there must be a quick return to democracy in the state. The last state elections were held nearly a decade ago, and there has been no elected state government in Jammu and Kashmir for the past five years. Although elections have been held for local bodies, they are not and cannot be a substitute for a duly constituted legislative assembly. While the mainstream parties are grandstanding about boycotting at this stage, it is clear that once the dust has settled, almost all of them will participate in the election.