indica News Bureau-
Several influential Indian-American advocacy organizations on Monday urged the Trump Administration to “fully support” the decision of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government, which is India’s “internal sovereign decision” on Jammu and Kashmir.
The Government of India took a decisive step towards a solution to the decades-old conflict over Kashmir, by abrogating Articles 370 and 35A to India’s constitution that conferred special status on the state of Jammu and Kashmir, said Hindu American Foundation (HAF), an influential Hindu advocacy group.
“We urge the U.S. to fully support India’s internal sovereign decisions on Kashmir and to continue to exert pressure on Pakistan to end its support of cross-border terrorism, so the Kashmir conflict can be resolved once and for all,” Samir Kalra, HAF managing director said.
“We believe that the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A, which were only intended as temporary provisions, is an important step in this direction. It will help better integrate the residents of Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh into the rest of India and apply one set of equal laws across the country,” Kalra said.
Moreover, it will help create conditions for the full rehabilitation and resettlement of the Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir Valley, he added.
This is Modi government’s best gift to the nation on the occasion of 73rd Independence Day of India, said Krishna Reddy president of Overseas Friends of BJP USA. “It is a historic day as Modi government could deliver a long-awaited decision of scrapping article 370 and corrected the historic blunder made by the Nehru government,” Reddy said.
With the removal of this special status, the regions of Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh will finally be fully integrated with the rest of India, allowing for effective and sustainable development in these regions, said the World Hindu Council of America.
“We hope that people from all over India, will join the people of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in celebrating this momentous occasion,” it said.
Another Washington DC-based think tank working on India and Indian-related studies on socioeconomic, political and international security matters the Foundations for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS) applaud the Government of India’s move said, “The newly introduced Jammu Kashmir Reorganization Bill will bifurcate Jammu Kashmir as Union Territory with legislator and Ladakh as union territory without legislator.”
“Article 370 was a temporary provision in the constitution but it has created a permanent situation of bloodshed in the valley and choked prosperity in Jammu Kashmir. The newly passed Jammu Kashmir Reorganization bill will bring peace and development both in Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh,” Khanderao Kand, director of (FIIDS), told indica.
Article 370 allowed Jammu Kashmir to have separate citizenship and rights laws than the rest of India and restricted Government of India’s role to foreign affairs, defense, finance, and communication. Article 35A allowed buying properties, government jobs, and educational benefits in Jammu Kashmir only to the residents defined by the states constitutes and not to the rest of the citizens of India. Moreover, women married to out of state resident lose these rights. These articles were introduced as temporary but have caused long term divide in the country barring much-needed talent and business inflow for the development of Jammu and Kashmir. Moreover, due to these, the Jammu Kashmir state failed to stop terrorism and failed to develop along with the rest of the states in India.
