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Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Changing Kashmir’s demography: India’s tactics to win Kashmir

Riaz Ahmad Chaudhary |

Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, in his letter to United Nations Secretary-General, has said that along with construction of residential colonies for Hindu Pundits in the Kashmir valley, the allocation of land to retired army officers and non-Kashmiris is a part of India’s plan to bring demographic changes in the valley. The utter purpose of these efforts is to convert Muslim majority into a minority in Jammu & Kashmir so that desired results can be achieved in the plebiscite under the United Nations. Sartaj Aziz also wrote in the letter that Human Rights violation in the Jammu & Kashmir has increased due to non-compliance of UN resolutions and that peace and stability in South Asia can only be achieved by implementing the UN resolutions on Kashmir.

Mirwize said that the only purpose of the demographic change is to convert Kashmiris into minority and deprive them of their fundamental right – right of self-determination.

A new human rights tragedy is taking place because of no implementation of UN resolution of Kashmir dispute. On the other hand Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi has said that Pakistan welcomes UN statement on the situation in Kashmir. India is violating the UN resolutions on Kashmir and trying to change its demography. UN military observers will take a review of the situation in Kashmir. All Parties Hurriyat Conference has been calling for shutter-down strikes in the valley against the atrocities of the Indian army. Syed Ali Gillani has always been of the view that India presents itself as the largest democracy of the world but all these claims have been exposed before the world because India has suppressed the fundamental rights of Kashmiri people for 68 years.

Read more: Kashmir on fire: Has Pakistan really helped the cause?

India had postulated to conduct a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir but later on stepped back from that postulation. All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman has already created a committee comprising of two members. The committee is intended to lay out a resistance framework against India’s intentions of changing the demography by giving citizenship rights to non-Kashmiri people. The Hurriyat leader had already said that he would discuss the matter with pro-freedom parties legal experts and civil society members and start an organized campaign against India’s these intentions. Mirwize also said that the only purpose of the demographic change is to convert Kashmiris into minority and deprive them of their fundamental right – right of self-determination.

Indian army started a self-styled census campaign in Baramula, Bandi Pura, and many other areas. People are asked to show their ages, addresses and telephone numbers and entire data is being documented.

All the pro-freedom parties will have to be united to stop the Indian conspiracies of demographic changes in Jammu & Kashmir. The leader of All Parties Hurriyat Conference and chairman of Kashmir Solution Movement, Zafar Akbar Butt said that Kashmiris will make such Indian efforts unsuccessful. Demographic changes in the valley will bring severe consequences for India.

Read more: Is Kashmir slipping away from India?

Modi government is trying to change the nature of article 370 by bringing a Hindu Chief Minister in the guise of demographic changes in Muslim majority areas. It is also revealed that India army is raiding the houses in Jammu & Kashmir and collecting the information of the local people. For this purpose, Indian army started a self-styled census campaign in Baramula, Bandi Pura, and many other areas. People are asked to show their ages, addresses and telephone numbers and entire data is being documented.

India wants an artificial rise in the Hindu population so that Muslims in Jammu will request to be alienated from Jammu region.

In Bingham, people have been provided with a form to give their details and submit the forms duly signed by the respective individuals. Although, the commanding officer of the Indian army has negated such news an Indian soldier told on the basis of anonymity that such data is being collected by the Army to upgrade the existing data. In this regard, Hindus have shown extra 400,000 population in Jammu area but Muslim population never expanded beyond 10%.

Read more: Why isn’t the World talking about Kashmir?

India wants an artificial rise in the Hindu population so that Muslims in Jammu will request to be alienated from Jammu region. It is said that entire plan is a conspiracy of Indian intelligence agencies under which Hindu population is shown increasing in Jammu region. Similarly, the valley is shown as decreasing Hindu population that will result in two outcomes. First is that population should be shown as much low as India will not hesitate to say ‘Yes’ to any UN demand of holding a plebiscite. Secondly, a concocted decrease of population in the valley will enable Indian government to locate more resources to Jammu region by depriving the valley of modern technologies and subsidies.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Global Village Space’s editorial policy.