By: Javed Iqbal,
In the past three years, the Indian government is said to have granted residence of Occupied Kashmir to approximately 50,000 non-local Hindus:
At a time when the Modi administration has outlawed Muslims and other minorities from residing in India, India is commemorating the Republic Day. Any Muslim or minority community’s life, property, and business are not secure in India. The BJP, the ruling party in India, has specifically targeted every element of the lives of Muslims in occupied Kashmir. By altering Kashmir’s demographic environment and systematically eliminating Kashmiri culture, language, and religious traditions and identity, Indian measures over the past two to three years have been intended to marginalize the Muslim people.
Over 50,000 non-local Hindus have reportedly received domicile of Occupied Kashmir from the Indian government in the past three years. This choice is a betrayal of fundamental human rights as well as a scheme to rob the people of Occupied Kashmir of their resources. By removing Kashmir as a state subject, a scheme exists to obliterate the identity of Kashmiris. Before implementing the Indian government’s proposal, it is important to determine whether the issue is actually a state matter. The Indian government altered the same state topic to accommodate non-state residents.
What is a state subject/resident state?
Resident of Jammu and Kashmir State Certificate
The process for giving citizenship and land domicile to the state of Jammu and Kashmir is outlined in law, and those who violate it are subject to penalties. Persons found to be involved in the illegal possession or sale of real estate, whether it be public or private, face a 10-year prison sentence as well as a fine. A decent chapter on the history and culture of the state of Jammu and Kashmir may be found in the state subject. The Dogra ruler became apprehensive that the number of outsiders was increasing rapidly in the prosperous state. Real state residents will become a minority. So on 20 April 1927, Legal Document No. 44 No. I-L/84 Notification was issued, the text of which is as follows:
“His Highness Maharaja Bahadur (Vice Private Secretary Sixth No. 2354 dated the 31st January 1927 Department of Finance Member Council) approves the application to the public” After the occupation of Poonch in 1935, another notification titled “Definition of State Subject Notification for the State of Poonch” was implemented. This is a unique law in the world where every citizen of the state is divided into categories and his rights are secured.
(1) First Class Citizen: According to the notification, all persons who were born or resided in Jammu and Kashmir before the commencement of the reign of Maharaja Gulab Singh and all such persons who settled in Jammu and Kashmir prior to 1942 according to the “Bikrami” or “Samut” calendar and were permanently are settled, will be called first class citizens. The “Bikrami” or “Samut” Hindi calendar is 57 years earlier than the universally accepted AD calendar. 1942 should be considered as 1885 according to the Bikrami or Samut calendar.
(2) Second Class Citizen: Such persons who settled in the state during Bikrami or Samut years 1942 to 1968 (1885 to 1911) and bought immovable property and took up permanent residence will be called second class residents of the state.
3) Third Class Citizen: Apart from Class I and Class II, all permanent residents who have purchased immovable property through raiyat nama or permit will be called Class III residents after ten years of permanent residence.
4) Fourth Class Citizen: Such companies registered in the State with which the financial interests of the State Government are connected or may lead to the financial benefit of the Government or the financial stability of the companies of which the Government is satisfied, such companies may be declared by the Maharaja of the State to be Class IV Resident State under special order.
The merits and demerits of dividing citizens into grades were explained in four special notes at the end of the same notification:
(1) For the purposes of State scholarship and agricultural land or building houses, and State subjects in State employment, First Class shall be preferred to Second and Third Class.
(2) Descendants of persons holding all ranks of State subjects shall also be State residents in the respective ranks. For example, if a state subject is class II, then its great-grandchildren will also have class II state subject. They cannot be first class.
(3) A widow or wife shall have the same status as a State subject as her husband, if he resides for a long period within the State and does not leave the State.
(4) A State subject shall have the meaning given in the interpretation and reference notification and shall have effect in accordance with the law provided that he shall comply with all State laws during a period of ten years. He has to purchase residential property within six months of obtaining the permit. Otherwise, the permit will expire, which will have to be renewed. Ten years after obtaining the permit and buying a residential property, he must in any case obtain a resident state certificate. Otherwise, his residential property will become the property of the state. If the resident state fails to obtain the certificate within 10 years, he can get a six-month grace period to sell the property.
This law was still in effect in all three sections of Kashmir after it was split in half in 1947. To look into and revoke the issuance of false Resident State Certificates, the “Azad Jammu and Kashmir Fake Resident State Certificate Cancellation Act, 1971” was promulgated. However, the Act of 1971 came to an end on June 25, 1980, when the Dogra Act was enacted and guidelines were established for obtaining a certificate of resident status in Azad Kashmir.
The Kashmir Council was granted legislative authority under the 1980 Act. There are procedures for looking into and investigating State of Resident or Domicile Certificates that are fraudulent or unlawful, and individuals who get these documents illegally face punishment.
After the “State Subject Certificate” was put into effect in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, a non-state woman who marries a state citizen can become a first-class citizen, but a non-state man can never do so:
A non-state woman can become a first-class citizen once the “State Subject Certificate” was implemented in Azad Jammu and Kashmir if she marries a state citizen, however no non-state man can ever become a first-class citizen. To keep her citizenship, a state woman who marries a non-state citizen must continue to reside in that state. She would forfeit her citizenship if she relocated abroad. And, just inheriting property will be theirs. However, the inherited property will not be able to be transferred to his children, but he will have the power to sell it, which can only be purchased by the resident of the state. If a state woman takes up residence in the state after marrying a non-state person, her husband will have to go a long way to become a third-class citizen. Which is almost impossible despite the presence of law. In such a case, the children of this woman will also have third-class citizenship like her husband.
A non-state woman will also lose her citizenship if she leaves the state after her husband’s death. The resident state, however, will stay at the same level as it was while her husband was a resident, if she does not give up her permanent abode. The District Magistrate will issue the resident state certificate in accordance with the regulations. The applicant must provide the Magistrate with their application and all necessary supporting documentation. He will submit the application to the District Magistrate after having all the paperwork verified. The resident state decides whether to issue the certificate or not. In case the application is rejected, an appeal can be made to the government within thirty days. In the presence of such strict rules for the purchase and sale of state land and citizenship, the allotment of a plot of land in a district can be imagined as the height of audacity.
Note:- The honorable Supreme Court of Azad Jammu Kashmir in the case of Sabeel Ahmed Chauhan vs. Iftikhar Al Hasan Muharra on August 3, 2022, referring to all the laws and previous decisions, issued twelve detailed resolutions on the procedures for issuing Crestat Subject and Domicile rules.
However, the Indian government seeks to settle non-state individuals in Occupied Kashmir by revoking the same sort of domicile. They include former Indian Army officers, young men, and officials who were stationed in Occupied Kashmir when they were at work and are familiar with the local climate. Hindus from India have the ability to own real estate, open businesses, or work for the government in occupied Kashmir after establishing residency. The government would provide retired officials and soldiers who wish to live in occupied Kashmir land at a modest price, but they will need to build their own homes.
Banks will also provide them simple installment loans for this purpose, with extremely low markup. For non-prohibited bore automatic weapons, the government will grant a license, but for prohibited bore weapons, they will need a special authorization that is subject to the NOC of the Indian Ministry of Defense. Banks in occupied Kashmir are required to lend money to Indian Hindus who want to do low-margin enterprises. The acquisition of land in metropolitan centers of all districts is the main obstacle for non-Kashmiri Indian Hindus looking to settle in Occupied Kashmir.
Government lands in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir are already occupied by the Indian Army and the Border Security Force, apart from other paramilitary forces who have been deployed in the occupied areas in the name of maintaining law and order since 1989. Until the 1990s, this number was a little more than 6 lakh, which has increased to about 10 lakh since the end of the special status of Occupied Kashmir on August 5, 2019. Many educational institutions in Occupied Kashmir were given to the Indian Army as temporary accommodation and military headquarters. It has been stabilized.
Army units and brigade headquarters are housed in separate buildings outside of cities. In this case, there is only one option for resettling the non-Kashmiri Hindus: seizing the land, fields, and properties owned by Kashmiris. The legislation drafted in this regard was based on those created in Israel for the settlement of non-native Jews in the occupied Palestinian areas.
These laws have been used successfully in the past in the United States, New Zealand and Australia under the name of “Settler Colonial Project” to gradually disintegrate the traditions, identity, culture and population of the indigenous population into new ones. Settlers can be dominated.
Some similar procedure is adopted by India in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Every day there are reports of innocent Kashmiris being killed by the Indian occupying forces in the Occupied Kashmir areas. The martyred Kashmiri youths are presented as terrorists. If the relatives of these martyrs have a little land or orchards of apples and other fruits, then the law to confiscate the property of the rebels comes into action.
They plead with the Indian soldiers, offering them a sizable bribe in exchange for their forgiveness or termination of the insurrection case. As a result, the Indian government and the unlawfully occupying Indian army are turning certain subjugated Kashmiris into slaves.
This is the method by which Palestinians are being evicted from their homes in Occupied Palestine and forced to live as refugees on their own land and now India is trying this strategy in Occupied Kashmir.
Despite all these tactics, Kashmiris are still standing against all kinds of Indian oppression, they are alone, the international media is not ready to bring the atrocities done on them to the world like the Palestinians. Just as the Arab countries around the occupied Palestine are turning a blind eye to the atrocities being committed on the Palestinians, the people of Pakistan are not particularly concerned about the Kashmiris.
The people of Pakistan are forgetting that for the last 75 years Kashmiris have been fighting for the completeness of Pakistan. This is a battle to protect the two-nation ideology. If the Kashmiris lose in this, the justification for the establishment of Pakistan ends. India has been targeting Pakistan’s security since day one. Its illegal occupation of two-thirds of Kashmir is actually part of its long-standing agenda against Pakistan’s security, which is the responsibility of every Pakistani to thwart.
According to media sources, the Israeli-style settlement plan in Occupied Kashmir has been finalized by India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The plan calls for the settlement of two to three lakh Hindus in the valley that is now occupied. The Hindu settlement in the occupied valley, designed after a Jewish settlement, has been completed by India’s ruling BJP party. Ram Madhav, the head of the Bharatiya Janata Party, has stated that two to three lakh Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir will be given not only housing but also total protection.
On the other hand, the Hurriyat leaders reacted strongly to the BJP’s statement and strongly condemned the BJP’s plan and insisted on resolving the Kashmir issue according to the UN resolutions.
It should be noted that a few days ago, a new report of the United Nations was released according to which 160 people were killed and 1253 people were blinded by belt guns in occupied Kashmir in 2018.
The report published in Geneva recommended that in the light of the data presented in the report, an international commission of inquiry should be established to conduct an independent investigation into human rights violations.
Similarly, The New York Times, citing a report from Srinagar, said that thousands of citizens have been arrested and tortured in Occupied Kashmir.
The Modi government took use of Israeli legislation designed to encourage the settling of non-native Jews in occupied Palestinian territory on August 5, 2019. Under the moniker “Settler Colonial Project,” these rules have previously been successfully implemented in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. While visiting India on May 18, 1993, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres brought this to Russia’s attention. While stating that: India should not be afraid of settlement in Kashmir because India can only occupy Kashmir by changing the ratio of settlement; now, let’s look at the rules that have changed.
Change in Laws:
On April 1, 2020, India approved the Domicile Law, by which the law was relaxed to a certain extent for non-Kashmiris to become Kashmiris. In this regard, the Modi government repealed 29 laws related to Occupied Kashmir, while 109 laws were amended. The first domicile was issued to Naveen Kumar Chaudhry, a government official from the state of Bihar, who was posted in Kashmir for many years. After the change of the law, in the first two months, 30,000 Indian citizens were illegally issued domicile and resident certificates of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
However, between 1927 and 1932, Maharaja Hari Singh had made the Resident State Certificate Rules, under which no non-citizen could become a resident of Jammu and Kashmir. According to the same law, a citizen of any area outside the boundaries of Jammu and Kashmir cannot become the owner of immovable property in the state, he cannot even get a job here, nor can he invest freely in Kashmir. It has issued this certificate to more than 53 lakh Indians so far.
After issuing the domicile, changes have also been made in the Pro-Veteralists on a large scale and one million Hindus have been immediately included in the new voter lists of Kashmiris, while 15 lakh Hindus are being included in the additional voter lists. According to a report by the writer, all these new voters will vote for BJP in the next elections. By making another import, the Modi government has added six seats for Jammu, after which the representation of Jammu will be 43, while only one new seat has been created in the Muslim-majority region of the valley.
Analysts are of the opinion that the Bharatiya Janata Party is pursuing a plan to gain complete control over Occupied Kashmir, where almost exclusively Muslim chief ministers have been ruling. Syracuse University-affiliated anthropologist Mona Bhan, who has long researched Kashmir, told AFP: The developments I see are nothing more than a Hindu settlement project.
Possession of Kashmiris’ property:
The Modi government has introduced laws to seize the property of local people by taking land from local people and giving it to non-local people, just like the Israeli settlers bought land from them. They moved to the Palestinian land. Similarly, now the Modi government is rapidly moving on the map of Israel. According to the notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs of India on October 27, 2020, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Organization (Adaptation of Central Laws) Third Order 2020 was implemented immediately.
According to the announcement of the Indian government, the Delhi government will provide a separate settlement to the Hindus in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier, India has already provided 60,000 kanals of land for non-Kashmiri investors. The Indian government’s plan is that government frontmen will buy that land. A Hindu temple has also been provided with 1000 kanals of land. More than 4,000 kanals of land have been grabbed from Muslims in Jammu.
Those who are delaying in giving Kashmiri lands are being evicted by the courts, the eviction notice is being considered as part of the nefarious attempt of the Indian BJP government, under which it wants the evacuation of Kashmiris from Jammu. Recently there are more than 200 houses of Kashmiri Muslims living in Bashir Gujjar township of Jammu. The residents of the said settlement have been informed through a notice that the houses will be demolished if they do not vacate.
The retired bureaucrats and those soldiers who want to live in Occupied Kashmir will be provided land by the government at a low price for their residence, while they will have to build their own houses. For this purpose banks will also provide them easy installment loans with very low markup. The government will issue a license for them to keep automatic weapons of non-prohibited bore, but for weapons of prohibited bore they will need a special permit which will be subject to the NOC of the Ministry of Defense of India. Banks in Occupied Kashmir will be obliged to give loans to Indian Hindus who want to do business with a low markup.
Historian and political analyst Siddiq Wahid told AFP that the changes were the most drastic measures since 1947. This was done with the intention of opening the demographic floodgates.
According to Siddique Waheed, a political analyst, this legislation has been made with the intention of creating a flood of new settlements. The local population will also have to obtain a certificate of permanent residence. Professor Bhan told news agency AFP that a colonial project of Hindu settlement has now been started in Kashmir.
Hindu settlement:
After abolishing the special status of occupied Kashmir, India has started settling non-Muslims in the state, Azad Kashmir Secretary Liberation Cell Mansoor Dar told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan two years ago. 500 Indians have been given domiciles. And there is a plan to give another five thousand, lands are being allotted to retired soldiers in Occupied Kashmir, the lands of those who migrated from the valley are also being given to Hindus, Pakistan has raised this issue on the international forum. Red Cross should be sent to Occupied Kashmir, all assembly members should go to LoC to give courage to Kashmiris.
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Further Illustration:
BJP victory in the contentious Kashmir region might bolster India’s international claim to the area
In defiance of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1948), India unveiled plans to settle non-Kashmiri Hindus in the disputed territory in 2015 – illegal settlement in Occupied Kashmir not only defies the very spirit of the referendum but also abandons the UN. It has rejected the Charter of Demography and Human Rights, which is leading Kashmir towards the nefarious ambitions of Indian neo-demography. The occupying Indian authorities have recently confiscated 11 properties of Jamaat-e-Islami worth INR 900 million in the occupied territory.
Modi, 72, who is running for a third term in 2024, has dominated Indian politics with promises of prosperity and social progress and a hard-line Hindu agenda. BJP victory in the disputed region of Kashmir could strengthen India’s claim in the region globally.
Pakistan’s government told Reuters in a statement: “India is pursuing a strategy to maintain its illegal occupation by disenfranchising Kashmiris, thereby changing the demographics of Occupied Jammu and Kashmir from Muslim-majority Hindus” has been converted into a majority area.
India-administered Jammu and Kashmir is divided into two parts. According to the 2011 census, 62 percent of Jammu’s population of about 5.3 million are Hindus, while Kashmir Valley has a population of 6.7 million where 97 percent are Muslims. According to the estimates of survey officials and senior bureaucrats, the population of this region in 2021 is more than 150 million. Since 1954, this region had a special autonomous status under the Constitution of India, but in 2019, the political scenario changed when New Delhi In the BJP-led Parliament, this constitutional status was revoked.
The Indian government illegally annexed the state of Jammu and Kashmir, partitioned it and integrated it into the Indian Union. This is a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions. There are 11 such resolutions on Kashmir. Specifically, it was a violation of Security Council Resolution 38, paragraph 2 of which clearly states that no party to the conflict can bring about any material change in the situation in Kashmir.
In May 2022, the Delimitation Commission of India announced plans for new constituencies aimed at giving more representation to Jammu to reduce Muslim representation in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and tilt the political balance in favor of Hindus.
Muslims constitute more than 68 percent of the population of Jammu and Kashmir, while Hindus are around 28 percent as per the 2011 census. The BJP government wants to convert the Muslim majority into a minority through the plan of constituencies.
Last year, BJP officials seized the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board and all its properties across the region. Thus, efforts to gain control of all the important religious places of Muslims, including the shrines, have started in the occupied valley.
Religious leaders and Islamic scholars were arrested and prayers were banned in mosques across Occupied Kashmir.
BJP’s attacks on Kashmiri culture also include eradicating the status of Urdu. Urdu was the official language of Jammu and Kashmir for more than 100 years. But in 2020, Urdu’s special status was abolished by legislation that made Hindi, Kashmiri and Dogri the official languages of Jammu and Kashmir in addition to Urdu and English. Efforts are now underway to change the script of Kashmiri language from Nastaliq to Devanagari script.
