The Parliament of India had in August last year adopted a resolution to abrogate Article 370, and passed a Bill to bifurcate the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, controlled directly by the Government of India.
Article 370 granted Jammu and Kashmir autonomy, and its scrapping was done as all Kashmiri political representatives were kept under detention, communication in Kashmir was blacked out, and thousands were imprisoned.
The removal of Article 370 has made concrete the fears of demographic change in the Muslim majority region of Kashmir, as laws regarding land ownership and citizenship have been changed by the Government of India controlled administration.
On 6 December 1992, a large group of Hindu extremists belonging to the Vishva Hindu Parishad and allied organisations demolished the Babri mosque, triggering violent clashes all over the Indian subcontinent, killing around 2,000 people. Hindu extremist groups claim that the site belongs to them, and is the birthplace of Hindu God Ram.
Last year in November, the Supreme Court of India had directed the Government to hand over the disputed site at Ayodhya for the construction of a temple and set up a trust for the same.
The apex court had further directed the government to give a ‘suitable land measuring five acres’ to the Muslim body, Sunni Waqf Board at a different location.