Abrogation of Article 370: Dawn of a new era for Jammu and Kashmir
It is almost a year since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. It was this ‘special status’ that barred the Indian mainland as well as any foreigner from investing in the former state. Not only that, a cluster of privileged families freely ran the roost and created hereditary political lineage that was no different than the pre-Partition hereditary monarchy practiced in the state since the signing of the Amritsar Treaty between Maharaja of Jammu Gulab Singh and the East India Company at the end of the First Anglo-Sikh war in March 1846.The Amritsar Treaty signed on March 16, 1846, was the basis on which the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was established and which existed as an independent state for 101 years before Pakistan launched an unprovoked attack on the fa