Case of Disturbed Areas Act (DAA) & legality of AFSPA in J&K

DAA was crafted during Governor’s Rule in 1990 as ‘Governor’s Act No. 12’ in J&K, which was further replaced to the J&K Disturbed Areas Act in 1992. According to this Act, the state government could declare the “whole or any part… of J&K” as a “disturbed area”. Under this Act any magistrate or police officer […]

Issue of Holding Referendum in Jammu & Kashmir

The 1951 UNSC resolution asked for conducting of referendum in Jammu & Kashmir under UN supervision. The UN resolutions regarding Kashmir issue are not self-enforceable. They are only recommendatory in nature and they can be enforced only if the parties to the dispute viz India and Pakistan can accept it. But one of the conditions […]

Demand for Union Territory Status to Ladakh region

Ladakh is a Buddhist majority region and fundamentally different from the other parts of the Jammu and Kashmir in all respects – culturally, ethnically as well as linguistically. While the Kashmir issue is related to secession from India, the Ladakh region demanded greater integration with India. Demand for UT status Since independence of India, Ladakh […]

Insurgency in Jammu & Kashmir: History & Key Players

Jammu and Kashmir was largest of the Indian Princely States. The Hindu maharaja of Kashmir ruled over a heterogeneous population of 4 million of which 77 percent was Muslim, but since his state bordered both dominions of Pakistan and India, Maharaja thought he could play off one country against the other, join neither of them, […]

Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security

Kautilya has written that a state could be at risk from four types of threats viz. internal, external, externally-aided internal and internally-aided external. Out of them, the internal threats should be taken care of immediately, for internal troubles, like the fear of the lurking snake, are far more serious than external threats. Thus, the most […]