On August 5, the Minister of Home Affairs of India, Amit Shah, presented a resolution in parliament to revoke Article 370 of the country’s constitution. Article 370 accorded the state of Jammu and Kashmir special rights to promulgate its laws, maintain a separate constitution, and have a state flag. Within a day, the resolution had been approved, along with a bill to bifurcate the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories: Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

Even as debates were ongoing in parliament, Kashmir valley was in a state of unprecedented instability. Thousands of paramilitary forces had been flown in, tourists rushed out (the state owes a majority of its economic growth to the tourism industry), local politicians placed under arrest, education institutions closed, telephone and internet snapped, and a curfew imposed. Read more