India says downgrading IIOJK statehood is 'temporary'

Govt tells top court it is ready to hold legislative elections in occupied region 'anytime,' but gives no timeframe

ANKARA:

The Indian government on Thursday told the Supreme Court that the present status of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) as a union territory is "temporary" and the government is ready to hold the legislative elections in the occupied region "anytime now."

This week, the top court which is hearing petitions challenging legislation that stripped IIOJK of its statehood and special status in 2019, asked the government to indicate if there is a time frame to restore the occupied region's status as a full-fledged state.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had said he would make a statement on Thursday.

"... my instructions are that I am unable to give an exact time period right now for complete statehood while saying that union territory is a temporary status because of the peculiar circumstances the state had passed through with repeated and consistent disturbances of decades. It might take some time," Mehta said on Thursday.

Read more: India's top court seeks timeframe to restore Jammu and Kashmir's status as state

He added the government is progressing towards making it a full-fledged state.

Mehta also said that the Indian government is ready to hold the legislative assembly in IIOJK "anytime now" and that the elections commission has to take a call on how out of three elections due in the region, including legislative assembly elections, are to be held.

Jammu and Kashmir has been without an elected government since 2018.

Read also: OIC calls on India to reverse ‘illegal, unilateral’ 2019 IIOJK measures

In 2019, India repealed the special status of the disputed territory, stripping it of its flag and legislature. Article 35A was also scrapped, which had allowed the region to define its residents and barred outsiders from buying properties or taking up government jobs.

The Himalayan state was divided into two centrally ruled union territories, now called Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

The Muslim-majority region of IIOJK is claimed by both Pakistan and India in full. Islamabad says New Delhi's 2019 move is illegal and has since downgraded diplomatic ties and halted trade.