India is silencing not only journalists but also all Kashmiris daring to voice their dissent to the Indian state’s colonial policies and unlawful actions. After the revocation of Kashmiris’ special status, India is still working to silence Kashmiris and erase Kashmiri’s identity. The Indian government has put Kashmir under an intense military siege. It deployed tens of thousands of troops to the state, started arresting anyone daring to voice their dissent, imposed curfews, and shut down the internet and phone lines. This suffocating military siege and communications blackout lasted so long that Kashmiris could not comprehend when it ended. Of course, the erosion of Kashmir’s territorial sovereignty and the rights of its Indigenous residents did not start with the revocation of Articles 370 and 35-A. Indeed, no Indian government has ever fully honored the constitutional promises made to the Kashmiris under the auspices of the UN. Over the years, while paying lip service to the constitution, they gradually eroded the already limited autonomy of Kashmir and the rights of Kashmiris through presidential decrees, statutes, and legal verdicts. In this context, what happened in Kashmir was nothing but the completion of a decades-old Indian settler-colonial project to annex legally the state. Now, with no constitutional impediments, the Indian state is free to impose outright settler-colonial policies on long-suffering Kashmiris with impunity. After revoking the constitutional clause that forbade non-natives from permanently settling, buying land, and holding local government jobs in Kashmir, Narendra Modi’s government swiftly introduced a fast-track process through which non-local Indians who fit certain nominal criteria can obtain domicile status in the state. As a result, a large number of non-native Hindu-Indian citizens obtained residency in the predominantly Muslim region in a short period. Many Kashmiris rightfully perceive this policy as an effort to alter the demographic makeup of the state and decry it as demographic terrorism. There is still a salaried class of native Kashmiris working today, but almost non-local Indians fill all top positions in the state’s bureaucracy. The situation is the same in the police force and the judiciary. An unelected governor governs the Indian-administered Kashmir bifurcated and demoted to a union territory since August 5, 2019. Manoj Sinha is a former BJP minister and a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a far-right Hindu nationalist organization – with strong ties to the BJP – that aims to create an ethnic Hindu-majority state in India. With an army of non-local bureaucrats, police officers, judges, and other officials at his service, Sinha governs the region with no meaningful input from its native population. Historically, one of the Indian state’s primary policies in Kashmir has been to cultivate a cadre of Kashmiri client politicians inherently loyal to it. The complete removal of Kashmir autonomy in 2019 appeared to have left these client politicians with no real purpose or role. To remain relevant, they formed a rag-tag front to announce their commitment to helping Kashmir regain its autonomy and statehood – but mostly failed to convince the local population of their noble intentions. Recently, Narendra Modi summoned these same characters to New Delhi once again to use them as pawns in his efforts to create the illusion of a new democratic process in Kashmir. This was mainly to appease international anxieties around the dire situation unfolding in the Valley. However, this does not mean the BJP trusts Kashmir’s old collaborator-politician class. The Indian government is already working on new delimitation laws that will transform Kashmir’s Muslim majority into a tiny political minority within the rubric of Indian electoral politics. The Modi government has been under intense international pressure, especially from the United States, to restore democratic processes and rights in Kashmir.
