India Is Making a Mistake in Kashmir
The real problem in the state isn’t Pakistan or jobs. It’s a lack of agency for local residents.
Not helping.
Photographer: Rakesh Bakshi/AFP
India’s shock decision this week to revoke the autonomy of its restive state of Jammu and Kashmir is a crucial test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Without a change of course, he’s likely to fail.
Kashmir is arguably the worst legacy of the fratricidal partition of British India in 1947. One of more than 500 princely states in the subcontinent at the time, its Hindu ruler cast his lot with India after tribal fighters from Pakistan attempted his overthrow. The two nations have since fought three wars over the overwhelmingly Muslim territory. India controls the bulk of the state; Pakistan administers about a third and China claims a portion of its Himalayan plateau.