Jammu[b] and Kashmir[c] was a region formerly administered byIndia as astate from 1952 to 2019, constituting the southern and southeastern portion of the largerKashmir region, which has been the subject of a dispute between India,Pakistan andChina since the mid-20th century.[5][6] The underlying region of this state were parts of the formerprincely state of Jammu and Kashmir, whose western districts, now known asAzad Kashmir, and northern territories, now known asGilgit-Baltistan, are administered by Pakistan. TheAksai Chin region in the east, borderingTibet, has been under Chinese control since 1962.
After the Government of India repealed the special status accorded to Jammu and Kashmir underArticle 370 of the Indian constitution in 2019, the Parliament of India passed theJammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, which contained provisions to split the state into twounion territories –Ladakh in the east and the residuaryJammu and Kashmir in the west, with effect from 31 October 2019.[7] Jammu and Kashmir was the only state in India with a Muslim-majority population.
Abdullah reached an agreement termed as the "Delhi Agreement" withJawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India, on 24 July 1952. It extended provisions of theConstitution of India regarding citizenship andfundamental rights to the state, in addition to the jurisdiction of theSupreme Court of India. Agreements were also reached on issues of abolishing the monarchy, as well as the state being allowed a separate flag and official language. The Delhi Agreement spelt out the relationship between the central government and the state through recognizing the autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir, while also declaring it as an integral part of India and granting the central government control of several subjects that were not a part of the instrument of accession.[12]
The government of Jammu and Kashmir quickly moved to adopt the provisions of the agreement.[13] The recommendations of the Drafting Committee on the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir regarding the monarchy were accepted by the Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir on 21 August 1952. TheJammu and Kashmir Constitution Act 1939 was amended in November 1952 to adopt the resolutions and the monarchy was officially abolished on 12 November. The regentKaran Singh was formally elected as theSadar-i-Riyasat or head of state by the Constituent Assembly and was later recognized by thePresident of India.[14] The amendments incorporating the provisions into the state constitution entered into force on 17 November.[15]
Integration with India
Abdullah however sought to make Article 370 permanent and began calling for the secession of the state from India, which led to his arrest in 1953.[16]Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad then became the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. The Constituent Assembly of the state passed a resolution in February 1954, extending some provisions of the Constitution of India and formally ratifying the accession of the state to India per the Instrument of Accession. APresidential Order was passed on 14 May 1954 to implement the Delhi Agreement, drawing its validity from the resolution of the Constituent Assembly.[17][18]
The newConstitution of Jammu and Kashmir was adopted on 17 November 1956 and came into force on 26 January 1957.[19] Following this, the state constituent assembly dissolved itself andelections were held for thelegislative assembly in 1957, with the National Conference winning 68 out of 75 seats.[20]
In December 1964, the Indian government extended provisions of Articles 356 and 357 of the Constitution of India, which allowed forPresident's rule in the state.[22]In April 1965, the legislative assembly approved renaming the positions ofSadar-i-Riyasat toGovernor andWazir-i-Azam (Prime Minister) toChief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Though the change had no actual effect on the legal structure of the state, it conveyed that the government of Jammu and Kashmir was equal to that of any other Indian state.[23]
Despite Nehru releasing the imprisoned Abdullah in April 1964 to initiate dialogue with Pakistan, it viewed these developments as leading to the inseparability of Jammu and Kashmir from India and launched anarmed conflict,[22] infiltrating Kashmir duringOperation Gibraltar in August 1965. However, it ultimately failed in its objective and both countries returned to the status quo after theTashkent Declaration of 1966.[24] The government ofGhulam Mohammed Sadiq meanwhile rapidly extended many provisions of the Indian Constitution to further integrate the state into India.[25]
The failure of Pakistan in the1971 Indo-Pakistani war weakened the Kashmiri nationalist movement and Abdullah dropped demands of secession. Under theIndira–Sheikh Accord of 1975, he recognised the region as a part of India, the state legislature requiring the approval of the President to make laws, and the Parliament of India being able to promulgate laws against secessionism. In return, Article 370 was left untouched and Abdullah became the Chief Minister of the state. The region remained mostly peaceful until his death in 1982.[26]
Kashmir insurgency
In the late 1980s, discontent over the high-handed policies of the union government and allegations of the rigging of the1987 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election[27] provoked separatist sentiments in the region, culminating in a violent uprising and prolongedarmed insurgency[28][29] backed by Pakistan, who claimed to have given its "moral and diplomatic" support to the movement.[30][31] Several new militant groups with radical Islamic views emerged and changed the ideological emphasis of the movement to Islamic. This was facilitated by a large influx of Islamic "Jihadi" fighters (mujahideen) who had entered the Kashmir valley following the end of theSoviet–Afghan War in the 1980s.[30] TheInter-Services Intelligence ofPakistan has been accused byIndia and the international community of supporting, supplying arms and training mujahideen,[32][33] to fight in Jammu and Kashmir.[34][33][35] In 2015, formerPresident of PakistanPervez Musharraf admitted that Pakistan had supported and trained insurgent groups in the 1990s.[36] A prolonged, bloody conflict between the Islamic militant separatists and theIndian Army took place, both of whom have been accused of widespreadhuman rights abuses, including abductions, massacres, rapes and armed robbery.[note 1]
Police and protesters confronting each other in Kashmir, 2018
The violence emerged as a setback to industries in the Valley.Doda district, rich in high-gradesapphire, had active mines until 1989 that were abandoned owing to their turbulent location. In 1998, the government discovered that smugglers had occupied these mines and stolen much of the resource.[46] Following the2008 Kashmir unrest, secessionist movements in the region were boosted.[47][48] The2016–17 Kashmir unrest resulted in the death of over 90 civilians and the injury of over 15,000.[49][50] Six policemen, including a sub-inspector were killed in an ambush in Anantnag in June 2017, by trespassing militants of the Pakistan-basedLashkar-e-Toiba.[51] Anattack on an Indian police convoy in Pulwama, in February 2019, resulted in the deaths of 40 police officers. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by a Pakistan-backed militant groupJaish-e-Mohammed.[52]
Ahead of these actions, the union government locked down theKashmir Valley, increased security forces, restricted public movement underSection 144, and detained several political leaders, including former chief ministersOmar Abdullah andMehbooba Mufti.[56] Internet and phone services were also suspended.[57][58][59] The new administrative structure came into effect on 31 October 2019.[60]
Administrative divisions
The Divisions of Jammu and Kashmir:Kashmir (green),Jammu (orange) andLadakh (blue)
Jammu and Kashmir was the only state in India with aMuslim-majority population.[86] In theCensus of India held in 1961, the first to be conducted after the formation of the state,Islam was practised by 68.31% of the population, while 28.45% followedHinduism. The proportion of population that practised Islam fell to 64.19% by 1981 but recovered afterward.[87] According to the 2011 census, the last to be conducted in the state, Islam was practised by about 68.3% of the state population, while 28.4% followed Hinduism and small minorities followedSikhism (1.9%),Buddhism (0.9%) andChristianity (0.3%).[88]
Government
Jammu and Kashmir was the only Indian state that had special autonomy underArticle 370 of theConstitution of India, which stipulated that no law enacted by theParliament of India, except for those in the field of defence, communication and foreign policy, would be extendable to Jammu and Kashmir unless it was ratified by the state legislature of Jammu and Kashmir.[89] The state was able to define thepermanent residents of the state who alone had the privilege to vote in state elections, the right to seek government jobs and the ability to own land or property in the state.[90] By virtue of this autonomy, Jammu and Kashmir was the only state to have an officialstate flag, hoisted alongside India'snational flag, and had a separate constitution.[91] Designed by the then-ruling National Conference, the flag of Jammu and Kashmir featured aplough on a red background symbolising labour; it replaced the Maharaja's state flag. The three stripes on the flag represented the three distinct administrative divisions of the state.[92] By 1999, 94 out of the 97 subjects in the Union List and 260 out of 395 articles of the Constitution of India had become applicable in the state, though it retained some of its autonomy.[93] Article 370 had meanwhile become mostly symbolic.[10]
Like all the states of India, Jammu and Kashmir had a multi-party democratic system of governance and had a bicameral legislature. At the time of drafting the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, 100 seats were earmarked for direct elections from territorial constituencies. Of these, 25 seats were reserved for the areas of Jammu and Kashmir state that came under Pakistani control; this was reduced to 24 after the 12th amendment of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir.[94] After adelimitation in 1988, the total number of seats increased to 111, of which 87 were within Indian-administered territory.[95] The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly had a 6-year term, in contrast to the norm of a 5-year term followed in other state assemblies.[96] This anomaly arose because Jammu and Kashmir accepted the provision in theForty-second Amendment of the Constitution of India but did not accept its repeal in theForty-fourth Amendment.[97][98]
The state's official language wasUrdu, which occupied a central space in media, education, religious and political discourses and the legislature of Jammu and Kashmir; the language functioned as a symbol of identity among Muslims of South Asia.[99] The first language of less than 1% of the population, it was regarded as a "neutral" and non-native language of the multilingual region, and broadly accepted by Kashmiri Muslims.[100][101] The dominant position of Urdu has been criticised for rendering Kashmiri into a functional "minority language", effectively restricting its use to households and family.[101][102]
Central provisions
In 1990, anArmed Forces (Special Powers) Act of India, which gave special powers to the Indian security forces, including the detaining of individuals for up to two years without presenting charges, was enforced in Jammu and Kashmir,[103][104] a decision which drew criticism fromHuman Rights Watch and Amnesty International for violating human rights.[105][106] Security forces claimed that many missing people were not detained, but had crossed into Pakistan-administered Kashmir to engage in militancy.[107]
^abJones, Daniel (2003) [1917], Peter Roach; James Hartmann; Jane Setter (eds.),English Pronouncing Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,ISBN978-3-12-539683-8
^Akhtar, Rais; Kirk, William,Jammu and Kashmir, State, India, Encyclopaedia Britannica, retrieved7 August 2019 (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir, state of India, located in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent in the vicinity of the Karakoram and westernmost Himalayan mountain ranges. The state is part of the larger region of Kashmir, which has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947."
^"219 Kashmiri Pandits killed by militants since 1989".The Hindu. Chennai, India. 24 March 2010. Archived fromthe original on 25 March 2010. Retrieved31 December 2007.The Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday said 219 Kashmiri Pandits were killed by militants since 1989 while 24,202 families were among the total 38,119 families which migrated out of the Valley due to turmoil
^"Not myth, but the truth of migration". Archived fromthe original on 24 November 2010. Retrieved31 December 2007.The Pandits have preserved the threat letters sent to them. They have the audio and video evidence to show what happened. They have preserved the local newspapers through which they were warned to leave the Valley within 48 hours. This evidence also include still photographs of Pandits killed by militants and the desecrated temples.
^"Pregnant woman in Doda accuses Lashkar militants of gang raping her repeatedly". The Indian News.Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved31 December 2007.A 31-year-old pregnant Gujjar woman has told police at the Baderwah Police Station in Jammu and Kashmir's Doda District that she was repeatedly gang raped by Lashkar-e-Toiba militants for two months.
^"19/01/90: When Kashmiri Pandits fled Islamic terror".Rediff.Archived from the original on 26 January 2017. Retrieved31 December 2007.Notices are pasted on doors of Pandit houses, peremptorily asking the occupants to leave Kashmir within 24 hours or face death and worse... In the preceding months, 300 Hindu men and women, nearly all of them Kashmiri Pandits, had been slaughtered following the brutal murder of Pandit Tika Lal Taploo, noted lawyer and BJP national executive member, by the JKLF in Srinagar on September 14, 1989. Soon after that, Justice N K Ganju of the Srinagar high court was shot dead. Pandit Sarwanand Premi, 80-year-old poet, and his son were kidnapped, tortured, their eyes gouged out, and hanged to death. A Kashmiri Pandit nurse working at the Soura Medical College Hospital in Srinagar was gang-raped and then beaten to death. Another woman was abducted, raped and sliced into bits and pieces at a sawmill.
^Haroon Mirani (20 June 2008)."Sapphire-rich Kashmir".The Hindu Business Line. Archived fromthe original on 2 November 2009. Retrieved5 August 2009.
^Avijit Ghosh (17 August 2008)."In Kashmir, there's azadi in air".Online edition of The Times of India, dated 17 August 2008.Archived from the original on 3 January 2009. Retrieved28 January 2009.
^Thottam, Jyoti (4 September 2008)."Valley of Tears".Time. Archived fromthe original on 5 May 2010. Retrieved5 May 2010.
^"Divisions & Districts",Jamu & Kashmir Official Portal, 2012,archived from the original on 6 February 2021, retrieved21 November 2020
^District Census Handbook Kathua(PDF).Census of India 2011, Part A (Report). 18 June 2014. p. 8.Archived(PDF) from the original on 20 November 2020. Retrieved21 November 2020.
^District Census Handbook Samba, Part A(PDF).Census of India 2011 (Report). 18 June 2014. pp. 9, 34, 36, 100.Archived(PDF) from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved21 November 2020. District Census Handbook Samba, Part B(PDF).Census of India 2011 (Report). 16 June 2014. pp. 10, 12, 22.Archived(PDF) from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved21 November 2020.
^District Census Handbook Udhampur(PDF).Census of India 2011 (Report). 16 June 2014. pp. 12, 22.Archived(PDF) from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved21 November 2020.
^District Census Handbook Kishtwar, Part B(PDF).Census of India 2011 (Report). 18 June 2014. pp. 9, 10, 22.Archived(PDF) from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved21 November 2020. Part B page 9 says the rural area is 1643.65 km2, whilst pages 10 and 22 says 1643.37 km2.
^District Census Handbook Kulgam, Part A(PDF).Census of India 2011 (Report). July 2016. p. 10.Archived(PDF) from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved21 November 2020. District Census Handbook Kulgam, Part B(PDF).Census of India 2011 (Report). 16 June 2014. pp. 12, 22.Archived(PDF) from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved21 November 2020. Part B page 12 says the area of the district is 404 km2, but page 22 says 410 km2.
^District Census Handbook Shupiyan, Part A(PDF).Census of India 2011 (Report). 16 June 2014. p. 10.Archived(PDF) from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved21 November 2020. District Census Handbook Shupiyan, Part B(PDF).Census of India 2011 (Report). 16 June 2014. pp. 12, 22.Archived(PDF) from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved21 November 2020. Part B pages 12 and 22 say the district area is 312.00 km2, but Part A page 10 says 307.42 km2.
^District Census Handbook Badgam, Part A(PDF).Census of India 2011 (Report). July 2016. pp. 10, 46.Archived(PDF) from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved21 November 2020. District Census Handbook Badgam, Part B(PDF).Census of India 2011 (Report). 16 June 2014. pp. 11, 12, 22.Archived(PDF) from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved21 November 2020. Part A says the district area is 1371 km2, Part B says 1371 km2 (page 11) and 1361 km2 (page 12s and 22).
^District Census Handbook Srinagar, Part A(PDF).Census of India 2011 (Report). July 2016. pp. 11, 48.Archived(PDF) from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved21 November 2020. Part A page 48 says the district area was 2228.0 km2 in 2001 and 1978.95 km2 in 2011.
^District Census Handbook Ganderbal, Part B(PDF).Census of India 2011 (Report). July 2016. pp. 11, 12 and 22.Archived(PDF) from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved21 November 2020. Part B page 11 says the district area is 393.04 km2, but pages 12 and 22 say 259.00 km2.
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