News Desk |
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that Iran expects India to adopt a fair policy towards the people of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) and stop suppressing its Muslims.
Meanwhile, the top Iranian leader has described the current situation in the Indian Occupied Kashmir and the disputes between Pakistan and India as a result of measures by the vicious British government before its pullout from the Indian Subcontinent.
Khamenei during a meeting with President Hassan Rouhani and his cabinet members on Wednesday urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government to adopt a fair policy towards Kashmiri Muslims.
“We have good relations with the government of India, but the Indian government is expected to adopt a fair policy towards the noble people of Kashmir, so that this region’s Muslim people would not be oppressed,” Khamenei said.
The current presidential order replaces the legislative assembly in Article 370 with the governor of Jammu and Kashmir thereby using the governor’s consent as the consent of the state.
While describing the current situation in Kashmir and the disputes between Islamabad and New Delhi, the Iranian media reported that the supreme leader has said: “The British have intentionally inflicted this wound on that region for the continuation of clashes in [Occupied] Kashmir”.
Tensions gripped the region after the Indian government had revoked the special status of occupied Kashmir and rushed through a presidential decree in a bid to fully integrate its only Muslim-majority region with the rest of the country.
Pakistan had strongly condemned the move and vowed to “exercise all possible options to counter the illegal steps” taken by India.
What did India do?
On August 5, India’s government revoked the special status of occupied Kashmir and rushed through a presidential decree in a bid to fully integrate its only Muslim-majority region with the rest of the country, hours after imposing a major security clampdown in the region.
Indian Home Minister Amit Shah had introduced the presidential order and the bill in Parliament on August 5. Through the order, India revoked Article 370 of the Indian Constitution thereby ending the special autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir.
Read more: Modi Lauds Revocation of Kashmir’s Special Status as Achievement for his Government
Since the law was passed, India turned Kashmir into a giant prison camp as seven million Kashmiris were barricaded in their homes, internet connections were cut and their phones went dead. The curfew and communication lockdown still continues.
Reportedly, the bill further bifurcates the Indian occupied state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories namely; the Union Territory of J&K and the Union Territory of Ladakh. While the Union Territory of J&K will have a legislature, the Union Territory of Ladakh will be without a legislature.
This means that there will be elections in Jammu and Kashmir but the legislature will be under the President of India who will be represented by a lieutenant governor.
Article 370
As originally envisaged, Article 370 formed the basis of Kashmir’s special and autonomous status and the article has governed the accession and relationship of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir with India under the Indian Constitution. After it was revoked, the pro-India political leaders Mehbooba Mufti, Farooq Abdullah and others said that revoking Article 370 means a break in the relationship between the state and India.
Read more: Mockery of Democracy: Indians Criticize Revocation of Article 370
Under the article, the president of India can revoke 370 only on advice from the constituent assembly of Jammu and Kashmir. The constituent assembly was dissolved in 1957 and replaced by the legislative assembly of Jammu and Kashmir, which was dismissed last year after the BJP-PDP [Peoples Democratic Party] alliance.
The current presidential order replaces the legislative assembly in Article 370 with the governor of Jammu and Kashmir thereby using the governor’s consent as the consent of the state.