What is Article 370 on Kashmir in India's Constitution? And why is Article 35A so significant?

Members of Parliament representing the state of Jammu & Kashmir in Rajya SabhaFayaz, Ahmad Mir and Nazir Ahmad Laway protest outside the Parliament house in New Delhi against the presidential decree to scrap Article 370.
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Georgia Chambers5 August 2019

Article 370, which confers special rights to permanent residents of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, will be revoked once the President approves the bill, the government said.

India’s Home Minister Amit Shah announced that the measure would become law as soon as it was signed by the president.

He said the long-standing rights that preceded India's independence from British rule in 1947 were "temporary".

Jammu and Kashmir has long been a disputed territory between India and Pakistan. Each claim it in full but only control parts of it.

The decision is likely to cause unrest in the Himalayan region, with thousands of troops having already been deployed to the area ahead of the announcements. Tourists were also told to leave.

Here’s what you need to know about the status change and why its’s such a sensitive issue:

What is Kashmir's special status?

India's Home Minister Amit Shah arrives at the parliament house in New Delhi ahead of the announcement.
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Article 35A of India's constitution permits the local legislature in Indian-controlled Kashmir to define permanent residents of the region.

The article came into being in 1954 by a presidential order under the constitution's Article 370, which grants special autonomous status to Jammu and Kashmir state.

Article 35A forbids Indians from outside the state from permanently settling, buying land, holding local government jobs or winning education scholarships in the region.

The article, referred to as the Permanent Residents Law, also bars female residents of Jammu and Kashmir from property rights in the event that they marry a person from outside the state. The provision also extends to such women's children.

While Article 35A has remained unchanged, some aspects of Article 370 have been diluted over the decades.

Critics of Article 35A say the provision did not have parliamentary sanction and that it discriminates against women.

How did Article 35A come about?

A 1927 order by the administration of the state of Jammu and Kashmir gave the state's subjects exclusive hereditary rights. Two months after India won independence from British rule in August 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh, the then-ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, signed a Treaty of Accession for the state to join the rest of the union, formalised in Article 370 of the Indian constitution.

Further discussions culminated in the 1952 Delhi Agreement, a presidential order that extended Indian citizenship to the residents of the state but left the maharaja's privileges for residents intact.

How can it be repealed?

Article 370(3) of the Indian constitution permits revocation of the law by presidential order. However, such an order must be introduced before the state's Constituent Assembly. Since that body was dissolved in 1957, experts have different views on the abrogation of the law, with some believing it needs approval by state lawmakers and others seeing a presidential order as sufficient.

The validity of Article 35A has been brought before India's Supreme Court. Bharatiya Janata Party members have said that if the court upholds the provision, the Modi-led government will revoke it by presidential order.

What does the revocation mean for Kashmir?

Indian troops have been deployed to Kashmir ahead of the Indian government's announcement that it would revoke Article 370.
AFP/Getty Images

Removing the special status means people from the rest of India will have the right to purchase and own property in the region.

This does not sit well with Kashmiris given it is the only Muslim-majority state in India, with many citizens fearing it will lead to a demographic of majority Hindu.

The issue is made all the more contentious by the fact it has arisen against a backdrop of fierce opposition between India’s political parties, including the Congress and regional parties from the state like the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Conference (NC).

Congress Leader and Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said of the ruling: “Kashmir is under curfew, chief ministers and party leaders are under house arrest, there is an environment of war in Kashmir.”

He added: “Today the BJP has murdered the Constitution as well as democracy by scrapping Article 370. The very article that gave special status to J&K and inked it to the country has today been done away with mercilessly.”

Mr Shah responded to Mr Azad saying: “This is not the truth. Article 370 has not linked J&K to India. It has only alienated J&K from the country. Only three families have looted the state and have benefited from it. The country wants to know why Article 370 was extended for so long, why people did not benefit from reservation, why so much money was pumped into J&K but why are the people still poor? Not a second should be wasted in removing Article 370.”

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