India's SC to hear IIOJK statehood plea
A woman stands next to Amir Nazir Wani’s family house, which was destroyed by the Indian authorities, in Khasipora village in Tral, occupied Kashmir on April 27, 2025. — Reuters/Adnan Abidi
India's top court will hear a plea for the restoration of Kashmir's federal statehood later this week, court officials said Tuesday, as the region marked six years under direct rule from New Delhi.
The hearing, scheduled for August 8 in the Supreme Court, follows an application filed by two residents of the disputed territory, where a separatist insurgency has raged for years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government in August 2019 revoked IIOJK 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.