People in Kashmir have very limited rights on both sides of the border. In India, they cannot freely travel around in India and not even in their own state, Kashmir. They are not allowed to do business in any part of the subcontinent and are usually put in lockdowns where people cannot leave their home, not even to buy groceries, have regular power cut-offs and are cut-off from the internet or any other way of receiving or transmitting information. Even landlines are cut when protests arise such as in 2019 when the article 370 was repealed (Goel, 2019, Bloeria & Sahay, 2018). The article 370 declared Kashmir an autonomous region and gave its citizens more freedom by voting own representatives in the local government and securing land rights for Kashmiris. By repealing this article, the Indian government has shown that it wants to take Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status and fully incorporate the state into India. There were no Kashmir politicians involved in repealing article 370. They also didn’t have the chance to negotiate another article or policy that would secure Kashmiris the right to elect own state representatives, make their own laws or ensure land and property rights (Freedom House, 2021; Goel, 2019).

However, to restore long-term, positive peace in the region, the Kashmiris need to be given exactly that by the Indian government – an assurance that they can keep their rights for autonomy while being part of India. A replacement for article 370 has to be executed that assures land rights, political representation by Kashmiris and the right to formulate own state laws for Kashmir among other freedoms for its people. If not, the population of the Indian administered part of Kashmir will remain politically unheard and oppressed by India. Consequently, hostile sentiments against unity with India would remain. Separatist and terrorist movements such as Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed could easily recruit new members that are frustrated about the exclusion from social and political decisions about Kashmir.

The rise of new members in such separatist movements also has to do with the harassment of Kashmiris by Indian forces and the abuse of their human rights on a daily basis. For Kashmiris this means to be threatened from multiple actors, such as the Indian military, separatist movements that want to gain new members but also from terrorist organizations that pressure people to cooperate (Freedom House, 2021).

Even when the article 370 was still in power, the human rights of Kashmiris were regularly violated and people were arrested, killed or tortured for no apparent reasons by the Indian military. An example was the brutal reaction to peaceful protests in the second half of 2019 after the article 370 was revoked. More than 5000 people were arrested and dozens killed when the Indian military opened fire on peaceful protesters in Srinagar, Kashmir (Yasir, Raj & Gettleman, 2019).

Due to such actions the Indian government seems not capable of protecting the human rights of Kashmiris. The surveillance and ensures of human rights abuses by an international organization such as the United Nations is therefore necessary. By sending UN peace keeping troops to Kashmir, a ground level of security would ensure that the human rights of Kashmiris are not further violated. This status, security, dignity and peace, would be necessary for the following policies to be effectively implied. The UN would be suitable for this because it has been involved in the conflict since it emerged in 1947 (Koithara, 2004). In addition to that, the conflict in Kashmir threatens the security of all of South Asia and the UN as an intermediary is a suitable impartial agency that has experience in dealing with the two countries. Under the protection of UN troops, a replacement for article 370 could be found as well as policies that ensure stability and political participation for the people of Kashmir in India.