LARGE PRESENCE Indian paramilitary troopers patrol past a cutout image of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the city of Srinagar, Kashmir region on Monday, Dec. 11, 2023. Removing Article 370 has been a key plank of his Bharatiya Janata Party's platform since its inception, and the Supreme Court decision comes ahead of elections next year. One of the advocates who argued for the revocation to be ruled unconstitutional — the Supreme Court held hearings on it for 16 days — was sanguine. More than half a million Indian soldiers are deployed in the territory to control the insurgency, which erupted in 1989. India blames Pakistan for backing the militants, a charge Islamabad denies, saying it only supports a Kashmiri struggle for the right to self-determination.

Source: Manila Times December 11, 2023 16:43 UTC