ISLAMABAD: On December 13 last year, India’s Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai presented investment data for Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

Investments have fallen by 55 percent over past four years. According to an article published on Al-Jazeera website, declining investments and violence contradict two central arguments that have been at heart of Indian government’s rationale for 2019 abrogation of semi-autonomous status that region previously enjoyed that move would help improve security and spur economic development.

Total investment in 2021-22 in Jammu and Kashmir stood at $ 46 million, down from $ 50.5 million previous year and dramatically less than $ 102.8 million spent in 2017-18.

When Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi eliminated Article 370 of Indian Constitution which gave Kashmir “Special status” it also carved out territory of Ladakh from region.

Yet it should now increasingly be clear, if it was not previously, that sidelining democratic processes and principles and steamrolling constitutional provisions, are not working in improving region’s security or economic allure.

Published in The Daily National Courier, March, 07 2023

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