A year of Indian oppression, exploitation and state repression has completed in the Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. On August 5, 2019, the Modi-led Indian government announced the abolition of the special status of Occupied Kashmir through a presidential decree and took away its special privileges. This beautiful valley has been at the heart of tensions between Hindu-majority India and Muslim Pakistan for decades.
India flooded troops into the valley and detained thousands, imposed harsh movement restrictions, and forced a communications blackout. Many of those measures were eased but the internet remains throttled and a subsequent Covid-19 lockdown has forced millions of Kashmiris to stay in their homes for 12 months.
Since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian constitution in August, last year, the Modi-led fascist Indian government continues to adhere to the policy of coercion, torture, and deception to undermine the Muslim majority character of Jammu and Kashmir by changing its demography.
Article 370, which came into effect in 1949, exempts Jammu and Kashmir state from the Indian constitution. It allows the Indian-administered region jurisdiction to make its own laws in all matters except finance, defence, foreign affairs, and communications.
Article 35A was introduced through a presidential order in 1954 to continue the old provisions of the territory regulations under Article 370 of the Indian constitution. It forbids outsiders from permanently settling, buying land, holding local government jobs, or winning education scholarships in the region.
Due to such measures, Occupied Kashmir will lose its Muslim majority status and non-Muslims and non-Kashmiris will be settled there. Ladakh was separated from occupied Kashmir, the move is to turn Kashmiris into a minority.
Undoubtedly, India has darkened the future of South Asia by enforcing the biggest black law in human history in the occupied valley, which threatens peace in the region. The United Nations should act immediately in this regard, otherwise, India’s move could be a prelude to a third world war.
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