Our Correspondent
Three years have passed since India abrogated Article 370 and ended Jammu and Kashmir’s special autonomous status, turning it into an annexed and federally-controlled territory. Since then, the restless region has seen continued human rights violations, demographic changes, and delimitation of the territory in order to transfer political to non-Kashmiris. Under the garb of providing economic development and promoting democracy in Jammu and Kashmir, the Modi government is ruthlessly violating Kashmiris’ human rights.
Human rights violations continue to occur in the form of arbitrary detentions, with nearly 1,000 people still in jail, including children and elected legislators and the prohibition of public assembly. But draconian security measures prevent journalists from covering counter-insurgency operations and media outlets are intimidated into censoring news. Newsmen are routinely harassed, intimidated and obstructed from reporting.
Demographic Changes
On September 26, 2020, the Jammu And Kashmir Official Languages Act, 2020 was passed which added Hindi as one of the official languages of the territory. On October 26, 2020, India passed the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Adaptation of State Laws) Fifth Order, 2020 which allowed non-locals to purchase land in Jammu and Kashmir. These laws aim to reshape the demographic and linguistic landscape of Jammu and Kashmir.
In February 2021, the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues and the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief released a statement stating the changes in the territory undermined minority rights and urged India to ensure that Kashmiris’ economic, social and cultural rights were protected. They further said that the loss of autonomy and the imposition of direct rule by the Government in New Delhi suggests the people of Jammu and Kashmir no longer have their own government and have lost power to legislate or amend laws in the region to ensure the protection of their rights as minorities.
These legislative changes are designed to pave the way for people from outside Jammu and Kashmir to settle in the region, alter the demographics of the region and undermine the minorities’ ability to exercise effectively their human rights. The grant of large numbers of domicile certificates opens the door to demographic change on a linguistic, religious and ethnic basis. India is violating Kashmiris’ right to self-determination and changing the demographics of the area. The latter is a flagrant violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
In May 2021, a government website referred to the population in Jammu and Kashmir as predominantly Hindu. But as per the 2011 census of Jammu and Kashmir, 68.31% of the region is Muslim and 28.44% are Hindu. Clearly BJP is conspiring to erase the Muslim identity of Kashmir.
In the local elections held in December 2020, BJP candidates were given special facilities to campaign. India has further pushed through the delimitation of the valley which entails the redrawing of boundaries for an Assembly seat to represent population changes over time. The aim is to redraw them so that the population per seat remains similar. Assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir were last delimited in 1995 and as per part V of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 the number of Assembly seats would increase from 107 to 114 which will be in favour of Jammu.
India’s aim to make Jammu and Kashmir part of the country proper in the guise of democracy is a worrying development. While the UN has continued to express concern about the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the world at large has taken no notice.
Pakistan has said several times that it is willing to engage in talks with India so long as it revokes its recent actions in Jammu and Kashmir. These actions include rescinding the abrogation of Article 370, reversing demographic changes it is putting into place, and reducing troop levels in the valley. Pakistan has tried its best to ensure that the occupation and unlawful annexation of Jammu and Kashmir continues to remain the focus of world attention. August 5 is the day to remind the world about the sad plight of disenchanted and disenfranchised Kashmiris for whom the valley has turned into a big prison.
