How India's BJP tried and failed to game Jammu and Kashmir election – Southasia Weekly #37

How India's BJP tried and failed to game Jammu and Kashmir election – Southasia Weekly #37

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This week at Himal

This week, Auqib Javeed writes about how Jammu and Kashmir’s assembly election results present a headache for New Delhi, particularly given new chief minister Omar Abdullah’s support for renewed statehood, even as he reckons with curtailed powers and growing polarisation between Jammu and Kashmir. 

We’re also excited to announce that we’ll be participating in the Festival of Ideas organised by the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies! We’ll be hosting a panel discussion on 29 November (which you can register for here), and will be sharing more details soon!

For the November edition of Screen Southasia, we’ll be screening ‘Taala Te Kunjee’ (Lock and Key) directed by Shilpi Gulati, from 1 - 8 November. Sign up here to receive the film straight to your inbox!

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How India's BJP tried and failed to game Jammu and Kashmir election – Southasia Weekly #37
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How India's BJP tried and failed to game Jammu and Kashmir election – Southasia Weekly #37
India’s BJP government gamed the Jammu and Kashmir election – and still lost

This week in Southasia

Pakistan passes controversial 26th constitutional amendment 

Early on 21 October, Pakistan pushed through constitutional amendments which gave parliament more power to appoint the country’s top judge. A parliamentary committee will now select the Supreme Court’s chief justice, who will have a fixed term of three years. The ruling coalition government lobbied for and attempted to pass the 26th constitutional amendment bill last month, but fell short of the numbers required as the opposition refused to back the bill. There has been criticism about the hurried passage and secrecy around the proposed amendments, with the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and lawyers claiming that the new constitutional package will weaken the Supreme Court and fragment its jurisdiction. 

The new constitutional package is being seen as an attempt to sideline key judges who have issued rulings seen as favourable to former prime minister Imran Khan and the PTI. Analysts pointed out that the amendment was pushed through days before the retirement of Supreme Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa. Under the previous law, Isa would have been replaced with senior judge Mansoor Ali Shah. Instead, a parliamentary panel has recommended Yahya Afridi, who is set to take oath to head Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Saturday (26 October). The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government has cracked down on the PTI and its supporters after being elected into power, including through detaining PTI leaders such as Imran Khan. 

Elsewhere in Southasia 📡

Only in Southasia

This week, a techie from Bengaluru shared a brilliant new app idea - an app for rating potholes. He said that he was inspired by seeing a “7 star pothole” and felt sad that it would not receive the plaudits it deserved. The flippant tweet drew amused reactions and some creative suggestions, including a ‘Pothole of the Month’ feature and adding a star rating based on “tyre damage ability”. Netizens mused on how the potholes would best be rated and some even drew up mock designs of the app.

@K2_181
@K2_181

Got a meme or satirical post you'd like to share? Send us a meme that made you laugh from the past week here.

From the archive

As India and China recently signed a pact on military patrolling arrangements along the disputed border areas, Shaheen Ahmed’s article from August 2020 is worth revisiting. Ahmed’s article was written in the aftermath of India-China skirmishes in the Ladakhi valley in 2020, reviving conversation on how borders and their memories are constructed. Ahmed writes that readers can learn much about conflict, trade, culture and human engagement through revisiting these memories.

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