The Indian government has enforced a series of new laws allowing any of its nationals to buy land in the disputed territory of Kashmir. This move has provoked a strong reaction among bona fide residents of Kashmir.
People of Kashmiris describe this new action as a “land grab” to dilute the Muslim-majority character of the region, whose partial autonomy was scrapped last year in August 2019, bringing it under New Delhi’s direct control.
Muslim politicians from the region have expressed their deep shock and resentment at the new laws, accusing India of putting Kashmir’s land “up for sale”. They have called it a huge betrayal and a massive assault on the rights of the Kashmiris.
Last year when the Indian government had abrogated Article 370, it was feared that India will introduce such measures to grab the land of Kashmir to engineer demographic changes in Muslim population. The new laws increase a sense of insecurity and has a potential of making locals strangers within their own lands. Justice For All has strongly condemned the Indian move.
Raids
India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) is also carrying out raids at several locations, including the offices and residences of human rights activists and journalists in Indian-administered Kashmir, triggering outrage in the Muslim-majority region.
Premises that have been searched include “residence and office of Khurram Parvez (co-ordinator of Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society or JKCCS), his associates Parvez Ahmad Bukhari, Parvez Ahmad Matta and Bengaluru-based associate Swati Sheshadri; Ms. Parveena Ahanger, Chairperson of Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDPK) and offices of NGO Athrout and Greater Kashmir Trust.
The raids come a day after India’s Hindu nationalist government enacted a series of new laws – and amended some – allowing any of its nationals to buy land in the disputed region.
“Justice For All has vehemently condemned the enforcement of new land laws being introduced by the Hindu right-wing BJP aiming at nothing less than another series of suppression of Kashmiris by depriving them of their land and diluting their Muslim majority status,” stated Imam Abdul Jabbar, Team Lead For the Free Kashmir Action program at Justice For All.
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