On Tuesday, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) released a statement and appealed to the international community to take cognisance of “the systemic demographic change being foisted upon the Muslim majority Jammu Kashmir by settling outsiders here including through a new policy of sale of land and natural resources to them.”
The APHC said that the Government of India wants “to change the demographic character of the Muslim majority J&K and disempower its residents through such diktats and measures in order to scuttle the final resolution of the long-standing international political dispute of Kashmir in accordance with the will and aspirations of its people as promised by the international community, based on principles of justice and international law.”
Since August 2019, the statement added, “in succession one after other authoritarian laws and diktats are being implemented in J&K towards this end and to facilitate the electoral prospects of the ruling party in India as J&K has become its favourite tool.”
The APHC also said, “Simultaneously the ruling dispensation is pursuing the divide and rule policy by dividing the population of J&K on the basis of religions, regions, ethnicities and political interests to fracture political aspirations and voices.”
APHC said in the statement that the “situation in J&K is deeply disconcerting and highly repressive as people are the receiving end of this colonial mindset.”
The APHC, in the statement, asked people “not to lose hope but stay vigilant and alert to these measures, and safeguard their rights over their land and resources as much as possible.”