Restore J&K statehood, repeal 2019 Act: Forum for Human Rights' key proposals

On the seventh anniversary of the abrogation of the special status provisions of Article 370, which had granted autonomy to the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir, the Forum for Human Rights in Jammu and Kashmir has strongly recommended the restoration of full Statehood and the repeal of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. The forum, in its annual report, has also highlighted concerns over security coordination failures and praised the role of the judiciary in upholding civil liberties.

The Forum for Human Rights in Jammu and Kashmir describes itself as an informal group of concerned citizens. It was formed after the Centre ended the special status of the erstwhile state in 2019. The group is co-chaired by Gopal Pillai, former Union Home Secretary, and Radha Kumar, a former member of the Group of Interlocutors for Jammu and Kashmir. Its members include former judges, such as Justice Ruma Pal, a former Supreme Court judge; Justice A.P. Shah, former Chief Justice of the Madras and Delhi High Courts; Justice Bilal Nazki, former Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court; Justice Hasnain Masoodi, former judge of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court; and Justice Anjana Prakash, former judge of the Patna High Court. Former security officials, including Major-General Ashok Mehta (retd), Air Vice-Marshal Kapil Kak (retd), Lieutenant-General H.S. Panag (retd) and Colonel Yoginder Kandhari (retd), are also members. The forum has so far released seven annual reports.

The latest report draws particular attention to the 2025 Red Fort attack, which killed eight civilians. It suggests the attack indicates a “scattered revival of homegrown militancy” in Jammu and Kashmir directed against Indian citizens and infrastructure. The report points to the failure to intercept Umar Un Nabi, a doctor from Kashmir, despite prior arrests and raids on his group in Faridabad. It attributes this to extremely poor coordination among the Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana police, calling it a “fault that can be attributed to shoddy monitoring by the Union Home Ministry”. The report notes that Union Home Minister Amit Shah, while vowing revenge on the attackers, did not take responsibility for the lapse that allowed Nabi to drive to the Red Fort without being intercepted. It also states that considerable anger exists in Jammu and Kashmir over the actions of the Union and Lieutenant-Governor administrations following the attack, with an estimated 500 people detained.

The Forum strongly advocates the restoration of full Statehood for Jammu and Kashmir. It argues that for the first time in independent India, an existing State has been demoted to Union Territory status. This, it contends, contravenes Articles 1 and 3 of the Constitution and the basic structure doctrine, which holds that India is a federal democracy in which States' rights must be respected—a principle that has underpinned Indian unity for decades. The report reminds the Centre of the words of then Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, who had urged the Union administration to restore Statehood at the earliest and set a deadline for Assembly elections by the end of September 2024. While acknowledging that the Union administration might argue that the time is not appropriate for restoration in the wake of the Red Fort attack, the Forum cautions that such a position is untenable. On the contrary, it asserts, this is exactly the time to restore Statehood as a critical first step for peacebuilding.

The report also commends the judiciary's role in Jammu and Kashmir. It notes that the Jammu and Kashmir High Court issued a series of orders quashing detentions under the Public Safety Act (PSA), thereby safeguarding individual rights. This judicial oversight is seen as a positive development amid concerns about preventive detention and civil liberties.

The Forum has become the first major civil society group to publicly advocate a structured outreach to Jammu and Kashmir, a region that has experienced militancy and civil unrest for over three decades. Its recommendations underline the need for political reconciliation and constitutional governance. The Centre has maintained that its actions, including the 2019 reorganisation, were aimed at integrating Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India and that Statehood would be restored at an appropriate time. The dialogue between constitutional imperatives and security concerns continues to shape the region's future.