Key points
- Hearing follows petition by two IIOJK residents
- Supreme Court earlier backed move, urged statehood return
- Petitioners seek clear timeline for statehood restoration
NEW DELHI: India’s top court will hear a plea for the restoration of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK)’s statehood later this week, court officials said on Tuesday.
The hearing, scheduled for August 8 in the Supreme Court, follows an application filed by two residents of IIOJK.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government revoked IIOJK’s limited autonomy and brought it directly under federal control.
The move was accompanied by mass arrests and a communications blackout that ran for months as India bolstered its armed forces in the region to contain protests.
Restoring statehood
The removal of Article 370 of the constitution, which enshrined the IIOJK’s special status, was challenged by political parties, the local bar association and individual litigants.
In December 2023, the Supreme Court upheld removing the IIOJK’s autonomy, but added that it be restored to statehood and put on a par with any other Indian state “at the earliest and as soon as possible”. “We have moved an application seeking a definitive timeline for the restoration of statehood,” said the petitioners’ lawyer, Soayib Qureshi.
