Both India and Pakistan seem to be upset over the prospect of 'autonomy' in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, but what they do not like may be what is good and necessary.
Article 370 of the Indian Constitution bestowed on the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir a 'special status' because of the terms of accession of the territory to India in 1947. 'Special status' meant more autonomy to the territory than was given to other states in the Union. In Pakistan, Azad Kashmir was also given 'special status'. Its constitution has a prime minister in parallel to the Pakistani prime minister and there is an article in it pointing to a condition of 'abeyance' till the territory in Indian control joins Azad Kashmir.
But neither India nor Pakistan, fighting over the territory, could afford to allow the Indian-held state of Jammu and Kashmir and Azad Kashmir the freedom to evolve their own solutions. From 1953 to 1986, India issued 42 constitutional amendment orders that virtually negated the 'special status' under Article 370. In the Azad Kashmir Constitution, an article vests all power in the prime minister of Pakistan. Another article disallows political parties propagating the 'third option', that is, the option of an independent state of Jammu and Kashmir, from taking part in Azad Kashmir elections.
The government of Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah in the state of Jammu and Kashmir wants the 'special status' of the territory restored. A report of the State Autonomy Committee (SAC) presented to the state legislature in February 1999, asked the Union government to go back to the 1952 agreement between Sheikh Abdullah and Jawaharlal Nehru, which pledged all powers to the state legislature, barring external affairs, defence and communications. The post-Kargil environment in India under the Bharatiya Janata Party government hardly allows the Union to give a fair hearing to the SAC recommendations. The truth of the matter is that the question of 'autonomy' in the Indian-held territory has begun to point to a 'final solution' to the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan.