After 86 days of the Parliament abrogating Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370, the existence of Jammu and Kashmir as a state came to an end. What was earlier a state will now be divided into two new Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The Government of India had abolished the two key constitutional provisions – Article 370 and 35(A) which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) on August 05. Home Minister Amit Shah had moved this resolution on the parliament to abolish these two constitutional provisions along with a reorganization bill for the formation of union territories of Ladakh without legislature and another one for Jammu and Kashmir with the legislature. The Home Ministry had said,
Keeping in view the prevailing internal security situation, fuelled by cross-border terrorism in the existing state of Jammu & Kashmir, a separate Union Territory is being created. The Ladakh division has a large area but is sparsely populated with a very difficult terrain. There has been a long-pending demand of the people of Ladakh to give it a Union Territory status to enable them to realize their aspirations.
This is an important milestone in the history of J&K. From the midnight of Wednesday, October 30th onwards, the existence of Jammu and Kashmir’s separate flag and constitution along with symbols of the state’s special status have come to an end. The Union Territory of Ladakh will now be under the direct control of the Government of India. The two new Governors of the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh are GC Murmu and RK Mathur respectively.
