Letter to BS: Maintaining peace in Kashmir will be a formidable challenge

Divesting sensitive border state of its status as a full-fledged state will have far-reaching constitutional, political, economic, social and, above all, security ramifications

Instead of addressing the challenges posed by the rapidly deteriorating economy, the government has resorted to yet another diversionary tactics by deciding to scrap Article 370 at a time when the state is still under the central rule. Even though — irrespective of its historical context — the national sentiment was generally against Articles 370 and 35A, divesting this sensitive border state of its status as a full-fledged state and relegating it to that of a Union Territory virtually bringing the state under the central rule, is something that even the antagonists of these Articles had not asked for. This