From autonomy to abrogation of Article 370 and the remaking of governance and politics in Kashmir

The Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan remains one of South Asia’s most enduring territorial and ideological conflicts. India’s revocation of Article 370 in August 2019, which abrogated the special constitutional status of the former State of Jammu and Kashmir, marked a decisive shift in the governance and political trajectory of the region. Conceived within the broader vision of ‘One Nation, One Constitution’, the abrogation sought to fully realign Jammu and Kashmir with the Indian Union by extending the applicability of the Indian Constitution, promoting uniform citizenship rights and enabling a common legal and administrative framework. Within this policy paradigm, the Government of India framed the move as a measure to deepen national integration, accelerate socio‑economic development and address the structural conditions that had enabled separatist politics and armed insurgency to persist under the earlier special status enjoyed under Article 370. This paper examines the motivations underpinning this decision and its implications for internal security management, regional stability and Indo‑Pakistan relations, as well as for the role of external actors such as China and major global powers in South Asia. Based on a qualitative analysis of primary sources, official documents, policy statements and secondary literature, the study analyses how the abrogation has reconfigured constitutional arrangements, governance mechanisms and security strategies in Jammu and Kashmir, while reshaping diplomatic alignments and legal political debates at the regional and international levels. It concludes by reflecting on what the post‑2019 trajectory of Jammu and Kashmir reveals about India’s evolving approach to federalism, conflict management and national integration in a nuclearised and strategically sensitive neighbourhood.