India scraps special status for Kashmir state

India’s government on Monday revoked the special status of Kashmir as Interior Minister Amit Shah told parliament the federal government will scrap Article 370, a constitutional provision that grants special status for disputed Kashmir and allowed it to make its own laws. “The entire constitution will be applicable to Jammu and Kashmir state,” Shah said, ending the state’s rights to make its own laws. In a subsequent order, India’s president approved the government’s changes. The step would also mean revocation of a bar on property purchases by people from outside the state. Such plans have in the past provoked warnings of a backlash in Kashmir, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan. The law had also reserved state government jobs for residents, as well as college places, in an effort to keep the state from being overrun by people from the rest of India.