Despite the passage of seven years since India illegally revoked the statehood of Indian Illegally Oc-cupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and ended its special status, New Delhi has not been able to control the security situation in any part of the occupied territory.

Rather, the security situation and unrest among the masses across IIOJK have further deteriorated. The people of IIOJK have rejected every step the Indian Government has taken since August 5, 2019, when it acted unilaterally and illegally, revoking the special status of IIOJK granted through Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and later supplemented by Article 35A in 1954. That act was illegal, immoral and a blatant violation of international law, UN resolutions and the Constitution of IIOJK itself.

The special status of IIOJK under Article 370 was a temporary, transitional and provisional arrange-ment, asserting that Kashmir was not a part of India. This position was to remain effective until the people of Kashmir determined their future through a free and fair plebiscite as per UN resolutions. In the last seventy-eight years, a plebiscite could not be held only because of India’s perpetual reluctance, sustained through a deliberate strategy of prolonging the dispute and buying time to alter its nature. Article 370 was to remain valid until the conduct of that plebiscite. Undoing it required the Constituent Assembly, or at a minimum, the Legislative Assembly of........

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