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The Guardian (31 October 2019)

State taken under federal control and split into Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh

Delhi has formally revoked the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir’s constitutional autonomy and split it into two federal territories in an attempt to integrate it fully into India.

The decision of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, to change Kashmir’s status and tighten the government’s grip over the region in August has stoked anger and resentment while a three-decade armed revolt rages.

At midnight on Wednesday the state was formally taken under direct federal control and split into the territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, bringing an end to decades of semi-autonomous rule.

The state’s constitution, as well as its penal code and state flag, was nullified, and the region is now subject to the same central laws as all other Indian territories. Jammu and Kashmir will have its own state legislature, while Ladakh will be controlled from the capital.

Girish Chandra Murmu, a former bureaucrat who served Modi when he was the chief minister of Gujarat, administered the oath of Kashmir’s first lieutenant governor in a ceremony held under tight security.

Hasnain Masoodi, an Indian parliamentarian from south Kashmir and a former judge, said Delhi’s decision to revoke the status was unilateral and a “massive assault on the identity and autonomy of the state”.

Read more at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/31/india-strips-kashmir-of-special-status-and-divides-it-in-two