By Sardar Khan Niazi
Ministry of Foreign Affairs has termed the latest announcement of permitting even temporary residents in the occupied territory, including outside workforce and forces’ personnel, to register as voters as a clear manifestation of the treacherous Indian design to influence the outcome of so-called elections in the IIOJK.
It means the demographic alteration in the Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) is on the cards. Surely, it is an attempt at pre-poll rigging and overt manipulation there.
In fact, the Indian steps to formulate the so-called Delimitation Commission and the issuance of fake Kashmiri domiciles to millions of outsiders, and changes in the property laws aim at turning the Muslim majority in IIOJK into a minority.
Reports say that registration of around 2.5 million new voters in the occupied territory, mostly non-natives, is going to take place. This is happening because India has not been able to silence the Kashmiris who are demanding their right to self-determination as promised by the UN.
With around 2 million new pseudo voters, at the whims and wishes of the Modi government, the existing number of voters will be over 10 million. Thus, tweaking ground realities and influencing the polls are meant to hoodwink the world opinion, furthering the impression that all is well in the insurgency-laden state.
The government in Delhi under the Hindutva mindset is in some way convinced that it could get away with tough devices. The power intoxication is pushing India into communal conflict and has literally exposed its so-called secular mosaic.
The canceling of Kashmir’s special constitutional status on August 5, 2019, by the BJP government as it illogically abrogated Article 370 and 35A was treason by any standards.
On the other hand, illegally detained All Parties Hurriyat Conference Vice Chairman, Shabbir Ahmad Shah, has also denounced the Narendra Modi-led fascist government’s move to grant voting rights to the Indian citizens residing in the IIOJK terming it yet another attempt for political disempowerment and marginalization of the Muslim majority of the territory.
His message was sent from New Delhi’s infamous Tihar Jail. Reacting to recent development he said, disempowerment, dispossession, and marginalization of the indigenous population have been central to the Bharatiya Janata Party government’s settler colonial project in IIOJK.
He called the move, part of the Modi regime’s sinister plan to reduce the Kashmiris’ centrality in electoral politics. He said, conquering Kashmir, its people, and resources have since long been a dream project of India’s Hindutva warriors.
From abrogation of Articles, 370 and 35A to changing Kashmir’s age-old domicile law, from redrawing the region’s electoral maps to tilting the balance of power in favor of a particular party and now granting voting rights to non-state subjects are dangerous moves by the Modi regime. These aim at changing the region’s demography and wiping off Kashmiris’ political, religious, and cultural identity.
APHC leaders, Khadim Hussain and Syed Sibte Shabbir Qummi have also in a joint statement issued reacted strongly against the Modi regime’s latest colonial move of giving the Indian citizens the right to vote in IIOJK and appealed to the UN to take cognizance of the matter.
They said the only purpose of such colonial moves is to bring BJP to power in IIOJK and install a Hindu Chief Minister in the territory. They said that the purpose of redrawing the Assembly constituencies in occupied Kashmir was also to end the centrality of the Muslims of the Kashmir Valley.
Tampering with demographic and territorial realities will have adverse consequences for the region and beyond. The government of India must desist from all actions in IIOJK that violate international law, the UN Charter, and the 4th Geneva Convention.
