Modi Wants To Give Kashmiris Same Rights As All Indians – But PSA Arrests Show That Hasn’t Happened scroll.in

On August 8, this was how Prime Minister Narendra Modi justified the decision to strip Jammu and Kashmir of special status and downgrade it from state to Union Territory: it would bring the rights and privileges enjoyed by people in the rest of the country to the region. It was not right that one region should be left out of the purview of nationwide laws, Modi had argued.

Six months later, three former chief ministers of the former state remained detained under the Public Safety Act, a draconian preventive detention law specific to Jammu and Kashmir. If the Centre meant to bestow Kashmir with more democratic rights, it has been curiously selective.