Kashmir lieutenant governor resigns: State radio

By Hilal Mir

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) – The lieutenant governor of Indian-administered Kashmir Girish Chandra Murmu resigned on Wednesday, according to All India Radio, India’s national public radio broadcaster.

Murmu's resignation -- which came on the day the Himalayan region marked the first anniversary of India’s revoking its seven-decade-long semi-autonomous status -- came as a surprise.

Besides repealing special laws, the Indian government on Aug. 5 last year downgraded and divided Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories -- Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. Murmu was appointed as the first lieutenant governor of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory in October 2019.

Murmu, an officer from India’s elite bureaucratic pool, Indian Administrative Service, previously worked in the western state of Gujarat when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister and investigations were underway into the 2002 religious riots.

Media reports suggested that Murmu is likely to be the next auditor and comptroller general of India, the top authority which audits government’s all receipts and expenditures.

Murmu’s tenure in disputed Jammu and Kashmir witnessed introduction and amendment of a slew of laws, which locals fear would usher in a demographic invasion of the Muslim-majority region.

Recently, Murmu told the media that his administration had no reservation if high-speed internet, which has been banned since Aug. 5 last year, was restored in the region. His remarks created an awkward situation for the Indian government, which has argued in the country’s Supreme Court that high-speed internet could not be restored for the time being.

He also told the media that elections to the Union Territory assembly “would be held soon,” although New Delhi has maintained silence over the timing of elections.

- Disputed region

Jammu and Kashmir is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971, and a limited war in Kargil in 1999 -- three of them over Kashmir.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or unification with neighboring Pakistan.