The Kashmir Conundrum: Balancing Rule of Law and Human Rights

Amidst snow-capped mountains and its mesmerizing beauty, the “Paradise on Earth” has been surrounded by terror and is deprived of light of independence for a long time. Inspite of being an inseparable part of India, it has become a battleground witnessing a bitter conflict between Indian security forces and the local Muslim community, since long. As history has it, various reasons evolved for discontentment among the people residing in Kashmir, be it religious, social or political. The most talked about commotion revolved around the Indian government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 and 35A of the constitution, splitting the state into two Union Territories, Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir. A special autonomous status and privileges were granted to the permanent residents of Jammu & Kashmir(J&K), under these articles. This has led to innumerable counts of internet shut downs throughout the valley, which resulted in bifurcation of opinions. On one hand, the abeyance of the internet is said to be violative of basic human right and Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India, guaranteeing the right to freedom of speech and expression and on the other, the government declared the move as a precaution to security concerns of the valley and to maintain national security. This paper tries to balance the aftermath of internet blackout in an area between curtailing of basic human right and the right decision undertaken for national concern. It tries to shed light on the historical background of Article 370 and its regime. It also quests to study the chaos caused by the shutdown of internet in J&K, taking a bird’s eye view upon the political unrest of the state and focusses on the path to be followed to maintain the equilibrium by the government in future scenario.