The 31st of October

11/08/2019

Finally the date is here. President Ram Nath Kovind has given assent to the legislation for bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir, and two Union Territories Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh will come into existence on October 31 which happens to be the birth anniversary of the country’s first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who was instrumental in the merger of about 565 princely States into the Union of India following Independence. The Parliament had earlier this week given its nod to the legislation for bifurcating the State, a bold and far-reaching decision that seeks to redraw the map and future of a region at the centre of a protracted militancy movement. Three days after the far-reaching decision to abrogate the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and bifurcate the State, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a nearly 40-minute televised address to the nation on Thursday, sought to assuage concerns of the people saying Jammu and Kashmir will not remain Union Territory for long. In both the Union Territories, key subjects such as law and order will be with the Centre. The UT of Jammu and Kashmir will have a Lieutenant Governor and the maximum strength of its Assembly will be 107, which will be enhanced to 114 after a delimitation exercise. Twenty-four seats of the Assembly will continue to remain vacant as they fall under Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The current effective strength of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly is 87, including four seats falling in Ladakh region, which will now be a separate UT without a legislature. The UT of Ladakh will have Kargil and Leh districts.
Meanwhile in a much embarrassment, UN chief Antonio Guterres has recalled the Simla Agreement of 1972, a bilateral agreement between India and Pakistan that rejects third-party mediation in Kashmir after Islamabad asked him to play his “due role” following New Delhi’s decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. The Secretary-General also “recalls the 1972 Agreement on bilateral relations between India and Pakistan, also known as the Simla Agreement, which states that the final status of Jammu and Kashmir is to be settled by peaceful means, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.” The emphasis by the UN Chief on the Simla Agreement, that states that Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan and does away with any third-party mediation, comes just a day after Pakistan’s envoy to the UN Maleeha Lodhi met Guterres’ Chef de Cabinet Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti asking the Secretary General to “play his due role” following India’s decision on Monday to revoke Article 370. The Secretary General did not offer his good offices nor did he make any offer to mediate between India and Pakistan on Kashmir. Instead he referred to the Simla Agreement, which is a bilateral agreement between India and Pakistan and rejects any third-party mediation in the issue. Guterres also said that “on all parties to refrain from taking steps” that could affect the status of Jammu and Kashmir, comments that come in the wake of Pakistan’s decision to downgrade diplomatic relations with India and suspend bilateral trade.

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