Professor Niaz A Shah N.Shah@hull.ac.uk
Professor in Law
Re-colonisation of Jammu and Kashmir and the Right to Self-determination
Shah, Niaz A.
Authors
Abstract
On 5 August 2019, India unilaterally ended the autonomous status under Article 370 of the Indian constitution 1949. The state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) was established under the terms of the Instrument of Accession by the Ruler of j&k. To change the demographic composition of j&k, Article 35A of Indian constitution 1949 was also abolished and new domicile rules were introduced paving the way for non-Kashmiri Indians to settle permanently in j&k. Under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019, Kargil and Leh districts were cut from Jammu and recategorized as Union Territory of Ladakh and the state of j&k was relegated to a Union Territory directly governed by the central government. On 5 May 2022, a delimitation report was published giving more seats to Hindus compared to Muslims against the population criterion. This article argues that India had started re-colonisation of j&k since October 1947. Eliminating its autonomous status in August 2019 was not the starting but a tipping point of the re-colonisation. After decolonisation of British India in August 1947, major Indian states such as Hyderabad; Junagadh and j&k were given the option to join India or Pakistan. India saw this as a ‘grave threat’ to her organic unity and invaded Hyderabad on 13 September 1947; j&k on 27 October 1947 and Junagadh on 9 November 1947. It is argued that India secured accession from the Ruler of j&k under compelling circumstances and on the condition that a free and impartial plebiscite would be held to ascertain the wishes of Kashmiri people. Since 1947, the pledge of plebiscite did not materialise. As freedom from colonialism has become a jus cogens, it is argued that the United Nations (UN) and its members have erga omnes obligations to respect and support the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people.
Citation
Shah, N. A. (2022). Re-colonisation of Jammu and Kashmir and the Right to Self-determination. International Human Rights Law Review, https://doi.org/10.1163/22131035-11020005
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Nov 7, 2022 |
Online Publication Date | Nov 22, 2022 |
Publication Date | 2022 |
Deposit Date | Dec 5, 2022 |
Publicly Available Date | Dec 8, 2022 |
Journal | International Human Rights Law Review |
Print ISSN | 2213-1027 |
Electronic ISSN | 2213-1035 |
Publisher | Brill Academic Publishers |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1163/22131035-11020005 |
Keywords | Organic unity; Accession; Self-determination; Re-colonisation; Settlers’ colonisation; Article 370; Article 35A; Plebiscite and human rights; Jammu and Kashmir |
Public URL | https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4138720 |
Files
Accepted manuscript
(400 Kb)
PDF
Copyright Statement
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2022.
You might also like
The Application of Human Rights Treaties in Dualist Muslim States: The Practice of Pakistan
(2022)
Journal Article
Defining Terrorism in Pakistani Anti-Terrorism Law
(2018)
Journal Article
Downloadable Citations
About Repository@Hull
Administrator e-mail: repository@hull.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
SheetJS Community Edition
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
PDF.js
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Font Awesome
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2024
Advanced Search