Reactions to top court's verdict on India's Kashmir annexation move

India's Supreme Court has upheld a controversial 2019 decision by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's right government to strip India-administered Kashmir's semi-autonomous status with a separate constitution and inherited protections on land and jobs.

As a result, the Muslim-majority region is now run by unelected Indian government officials and has lost its flag, criminal code and constitution.

Many Muslim Kashmiris view the changes as an annexation, saying new laws were designed to change the region's demography, the Associated Press reported. Members of minority Hindu and Buddhist communities initially welcomed the move, but many of them later expressed fear of losing land and jobs in the pristine Himalayan region.

Here are some of the initial reactions to the Indian court's verdict:

Pakistan

Pakistan said it "categorically rejects the judgement."

Pointing out that Jammu and Kashmir "is an internationally-recognised dispute, which remains on the agenda of the UN Security Council for over seven decades," Pakistan's Foreign Ministry emphasises that "India has no right to make unilateral decisions on the status of this disputed territory against the will of the Kashmiri people and Pakistan."

Dismissing the alleged "supremacy of the Indian Constitution" presumed by New Delhi over the disputed territory, Pakistan said "[India's] plans to annex [Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK)] are bound to fail."

The Pakistani statement noted that Islamabad will "continue to extend its full political, diplomatic and moral support to the people of IIOHK for the realisation of their unalienable right to self-determination."

Jalil Abbas Jilani, Pakistan's FM

Pakistani Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani called the court decision "a travesty of justice".

"India has no right to make unilateral decisions on the status of this disputed territory against the will of the Kashmiri people and Pakistan," he told reporters in Islamabad.

"Their ultimate goal is to convert the Kashmiris into a disempowered community in their own land."

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Kashmir's key resistance leader

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a key resistance leader and a Muslim cleric who was kept under house arrest most of the time since 2019, said the verdict was not unexpected and that the divided territory remains "humanitarian and a political issue."

“Those people who at the time of the partition of the subcontinent facilitated the accession [of the region with India] and reposed their faith in the promises and assurances given to them by the Indian leadership must feel deeply betrayed," he said in a statement, referring to pro-India Kashmiri political parties.

Narendra Modi, Indian PM

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the "historic" decision of the court.

The ruling was "a beacon of hope, a promise of a brighter future and a testament to our collective resolve to build a stronger, more united India", the Hindu nationalist leader posted on X, formerly Twitter.

"The court, in its profound wisdom, has fortified the very essence of unity that we, as Indians, hold dear and cherish above all else."

Mehbooba Mufti, ex-chief minister

Mehbooba Mufti, a former chief minister and president of the Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party, said the people of Kashmir won't lose their hope and condemned the ruling as a "death sentence not just for Jammu and Kashmir but also for the idea of India".

"The people of J&K are not going to lose hope or give up. Our fight for honour and dignity will continue regardless. This isn't the end of the road for us," she posted on X.

Omar Abdullah, ex-chief minister

"Disappointed but not disheartened," Omar Abdullah, another former chief minister and vice president of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference party, posted on X.

"The struggle will continue. It took the BJP decades to reach here. We are also prepared for the long haul."

Karan Singh, Maharaja Hari Singh's son

Karan Singh, son of unpopular Maharaja Hari Singh who acceded the Muslim-majority region to India without taking his subjects into confidence in 1947, said people of Kashmir should accept the verdict instead of developing negativity.

"A section of people in J&K who will not be happy with this judgment, my sincere advice is that they should accept the inevitable and they should accept the fact that now this has been done and the Supreme Court has upheld the action, and therefore there's no point now unnecessarily hitting their head against the wall," Singh said.

"Now, my suggestion is that they should turn their energies towards fighting the next elections. That is where the people should now be motivated instead of developing any negativity..."

Sajad Lone, Kashmiri politician

Sajad Lone, a pro-independence leader turned pro-New Delhi politician, said he was "disappointed" by the court's verdict.

"The Supreme Court verdict on Article 370 is disappointing. Justice yet again eludes the people of J and K. Article 370 may have been legally obliterated but will always remain a part of our political aspirations.

"In the case of statehood the Supreme Court sidestepped even commenting on it, thus protecting the entire country from any future misuse, by citing precedence. Yet the same misuse was subtly endorsed in J&K.

"Let us hope at a future date Justice wakes up from its slumber of pretense."

Kapil Sibal, advocate Indian supreme court

Kapil Sibal, one of the advocates who argued for the revocation to be ruled unconstitutional was sanguine in his remarks.

"Some battles are fought to be lost," Kapil Sibal posted on X, even before the verdict was read out, saying the court action was intended to ensure that "history must record the uncomfortable facts for generations to know".

"History alone is the final arbiter of the moral compass of historic decisions," he added.

The Economist

"Given the authoritarian way in which the power grab was carried out, the Supreme Court’s judgment on the issue had been billed as a big test of the judges' own independence from Mr Modi's powerful influence," the British publication observed.

"The court had not been expected to side with the Kashmiri petitioners who had challenged Mr Modi’s right to scrap the former state’s special status," it said, adding the verdict "is likely to deepen Kashmiris' long-standing feeling of disaffection."

"It is also ominous for other states attempting to resist Mr Modi’s centralising efforts. The eight states of north-eastern India, some of which also enjoy a degree of autonomy, should worry."

The Economist said the verdict is yet another signal that the Supreme Court has lost its former appetite to resist Mr Modi. "Ahead of an election next year that is expected to give him a third term, the prime minister looks increasingly authoritarian and diminishingly restrained."