SC hears petitions challenging J&K spl status removal

India's Supreme Court has begun hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the constitutionality of the legislation passed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government in 2019 that stripped disputed Indian-administered Kashmir's semi-autonomy. The removal of the Article 370 of India's constitution by the Hindu nationalist government on August 5, 2019, meant the Muslim-majority region is now run by bureaucrats with no democratic credentials and lost its flag, criminal code and constitution. The five-judge constitutional bench that includes the Supreme Court's chief justice is simultaneously hearing a series of petitions challenging the special status granted to the region after its accession with newly independent India in 1947. Such petitions were filed before the 2019 changes. The unprecedented move divided the region into two federal territories – Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir, both ruled directly by the central government without a legislature of their own, reports Al Jazeera online. "The case is before the country's top-most constitutional bench. We are optimistic as we know our case is very strong," said Hasnain Masoodi, a member of parliament from Kashmir who was one of the first petitioners challenging the Modi government's decision, yesterday. He has also served as a judge at the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. "This constitutional framework provided a mechanism to be part of the Indian union. The abrogation was a betrayal and an assault on our identity," he said.