MUMBAI -- In the early hours of Aug. 5, telecommunications in the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir went dark. Troops were deployed on the streets, and vocal opponents of Indian rule were placed under house arrest in preparation for the announcement that Narendra Modi's government was to end the region's autonomy and to bring it under direct rule from New Delhi.
Campaigning ahead of India's general election in April and May, Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party had promised to revoke Article 370 -- the constitutional provision that gives Jammu and Kashmir special status, allowing it to make many of its own laws and preventing people from the rest of India from owning property there.
