Ignoring Condemnation, India Continues Settler Colonialism in Kashmir

By Sajjad Sahukat

It is the most drastic development in the world that by ignoring condemnation, India continues settler colonialism in Kashmir.

Indian Constitution which claims India to be a secular state was torn into pieces on August 5, 2019 when Modi-led Indian extremist government revoked articles 35A and 370 of the Constitution, which gave a special status to the disputed territory of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). Indian government bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories—Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to be ruled by the federal government. On the same day, strict military lockdown was imposed in the IIOJK which continues unabated.

Under a well-planned hidden agenda, the leader of the Indian ruling party BJP-Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government accelerated, bringing demographic changes in the IIOJK. In this context, Indian various moves such as issuance of domicile certificates to more than 800000 non-Kashmiris, registration of almost 2.5 million new non-local voters in the IIOJK etc. might be cited as instance.

In this regard, in his article India’s Settler-Colonial Project in Erstwhile State of Jammu & Kashmir, published on April 14, 2023 in The South Asia Times Com, Talha Imran pointed out: “A new report from Kashmir Scholars Consultative and Action Network (KSCAN) reveals how India is using an alleged “anti-encroachment drive” to dispossess and impoverish the people of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, a disputed region that it has occupied since 1947…India’s actions amount to a systematic settler-colonial process that violates international law and human rights. The report traces the origins of this process to August 2019, when India unilaterally and illegally annexed Jammu and Kashmir, which had been recognized by the UN as a disputed territory since 1948…[India] repealed or amended more than 200 laws that had protected the land and citizenship rights of the indigenous Kashmiris….Since then, India has embarked on a campaign of land grabbing and demographic engineering in the region. It has identified more than 200,000 acres of state land as “encroached” by the residents, and has demolished thousands of homes, shops, schools and mosques. It has also issued domicile certificates to…non-Kashmiris, mostly Hindu migrants who can now buy land and apply for jobs in the region. The report warns that these measures will lead to the economic disempowerment and marginalization of the Kashmiris, who are predominantly Muslim.”

In this connection, the J&K [Jammu and Kashmir] Civil Services (Decentralisation and Recruitment) Act enables all those who lived in the occupied state for 15 years or studied there for seven years may apply for domicile. The domicile holders have the right to job and they can purchase property and have ownership rights. New Delhi in October 2020 introduced a new law i.e. Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Adaptation of Central Laws) Third Order, 2020, enabling any Indian citizen to buy property in the territory.

In its various reports, Al Jazeera wrote: “Kashmiris fear the new laws, are aimed at a land grab to dilute the Muslim-majority character of the region…The new laws also allow the lands acquired by the government for industrial or commercial purposes to be disposed of or sold to any Indian. These also authorise the Indian army to declare any area as “strategic” for operational and training purposes.”

As regards the Indian anti-encroachment drive—demolishing the houses in the IIOJK has been intensified. Latest reports suggest that in the Indian occupied Kashmir, government distributed forms to the residents under the target of encroachment land drive in the Parimpora police station area. More than 1000 families are on the list whose residential houses are on demolishing target.

Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and President of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti was detained on February 8, this year in New Delhi for protesting against the Jammu and Kashmir administration’s anti-encroachment drive in the valley.

Mufti said: “The administration is using bulldozers to demolish the homes of the poor in the name of an anti-encroachment drive.”

She stated that the ruling BJP has already taken jobs and lands from Kashmiris and is now taking away shelter from them. She asked all the opposition parties to come together to fight against this brutality.

Mehbooba Mufti also lashed out against Indian government and Indian Armed forces saying “China has encroached our 20000 square km. of Indian land, if the government is serious then let the encroached land be retrieved from China first”.

Responding to the demolition of homes and businesses in Srinagar, Budgam, Anantnag and Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir that are ongoing since February 4, 2023, Amnesty International on February 7, 2023 demanded that the Indian authorities must immediately halt the demolition drive and ensure that safeguards against forced evictions as outlined in international human rights standards are put in place before any evictions are carried out.

Aakar Patel, an Amnesty International official in India, said in a statement: “The ongoing demolitions appear to be an extension of the brutal human rights violations in the region of Jammu and Kashmir, the only Muslim majority region of India, has historically witnessed.”

He also remarked that they (authorities) must offer adequate compensation to all those affected without discrimination, ensure that victims of forced evictions have access to an effective remedy, and those responsible are held to account.

Patel, emphatically, pointed out: “Under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which India is a state party, everyone has the right to adequate housing which includes a prohibition on forced evictions. Where justified, evictions should be carried out in accordance with general principles of reasonableness and proportionality and include safeguards of reasonable and adequate notice; provision of legal remedies for infringement of rights; and provision of legal aid to people who need it to seek redress from the courts. No one should be made homeless or vulnerable to other human rights violations because of evictions.”

According to media reports, the municipal authorities and district officials demolished many structures in four districts of Srinagar, Anantnag, Baramulla, and Budgam in Jammu and Kashmir.

And Modi-regime has also sent gangs of RSS-BJP volunteers permanently stationed in the occupied Kashmir. 

It is noteworthy that New Delhi intends to thwart the related UN resolutions which recognise that Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed territory and right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people will be decided after holding a plebiscite. So, if India is compelled to hold a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir in the future, the results can go in Indian favour.

Indian forces have been also availing various draconian laws such as Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), the Public Safety Act (PSA) etc. in martyring the Kashmiri people, and for arbitrarily arrest of any individual for an indefinite period.

Notably, Amnesty International also stated on September 29, 2020 that it is “stopping its work in India because the government has frozen its bank accounts” on September 10 for highlighting rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir” and “the government had sought to punish it for that”.

It is of particular attention that the first episode of the two-part documentary “India: The Modi Question” was aired on BBC on January 17, this year. BJP-led India has waged a sinister campaign against BBC after the later released a two-episode series on the India’s incumbent Premier Modi’s blatant involvement in the 2002 massacre of Muslims in Gujarat. In the documentary, Kashmir has been shown separately from the map of India.

Nevertheless, the Kashmiri leadership has indicated that the so-called anti-encroachment drive launched by the Indian occupational administration is the new weapon for BJP to persecute Kashmiris—mainly targeting Muslims, while masses are also terming the step as a part of corruption practice by the BJP—under the garb of this drive, as the Indian occupational administration wants money from rich and vote from the poor. They have unanimously rejected Indian narrative of normalcy, prosperity and improved law and order being propagated through Modi-led media after August 2019.

Nonetheless, ignoring condemnation by UNO, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International as well as various other rights groups and entities regarding grave human rights violations in the IIOJK, India continues settler colonialism in Kashmir.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

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