Illegal Aliens or Lawful Residents? Article 35A

In Blog
January 11, 2021
Mahnoor Islam
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The revocation of Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution of India which gave the State of Jammu and Kashmir an autonomous status and gave its citizens exclusive residential rights have caused significant controversy. Many have deemed the removal of these rights a threat to the Kashmiri ideology and a way for the Indian

The revocation of Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution of India which gave the State of Jammu and Kashmir an autonomous status and gave its citizens exclusive residential rights have caused significant controversy. Many have deemed the removal of these rights a threat to the Kashmiri ideology and a way for the Indian government to gain more control over the region.

Article 35A in essence protects the state’s distinct demographic character. It forbids outsiders from permanently settling, buying land, holding local government jobs or winning education scholarships in the region. However, with Indian Occupied Kashmir’s special status repealed, people from the rest of India would have the right to acquire property in Jammu and Kashmir and settle there permanently.

Since May 2020, an estimated 25,000 people have been granted domicile certificates in the Indian Occupied Kashmir under the newly promulgated, Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Adaptation of State Laws) Order, 2020. According to the new law, any person who has lived in Kashmir for 15 years, or studied for 7 years, or has passed class 12 examinations is now eligible to apply for a domicile certificate. Furthermore, children of Indian government employees who have served for 10 years in the state are also eligible. The law also allows children who have never lived in the region to attain this certificate.

This is being done so that the demography of Indian Occupied Kashmir can be changed which is a Muslim majority region. The Federal Home Minister of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Mr. Rajnath Singh discussed a plan to settle thousands of non-Kashmiri Hindus in the region of Indian Occupied Kashmir.

The demographic engineering is being done by the BJP government so that strong political hold can be established over the area. The Kashmiri Pundits, who were the only Hindus in the Kashmir valley started leaving the region in 1990 due to the resistance movement. In order to bring back the Pundits, the Indian Central Government has started building colonies for them and has even allocated 2 million Indian Rupees (INR) for their rehabilitation.

A similar plan was designed in the 1990s however it failed due to lack of interest from the Pundits. But now, the Pundits and the Hindu community in general is being settled in parts of Kashmir along with refugees from Bangladesh through the Indian Occupied Kashmir quota of the Indian Armed Forces.

In March 2016, Modi introduced the Industrial Policy which aimed to allow non state subjects to own land on lease for 90 years in Indian Occupied Kashmir. This policy was opposed by the opposition and the Modi government had to revisit it. Due to the amendments in the policy, private promoters are allowed to develop industrial parks however they have to be in line with the Constitution of Kashmir.

A Geospatial Information Regulation Bill was proposed by the Indian Home Ministry in 2016 which stated that anyone who distributed a map of India which was different than the one published by the Government of India would be fined INR 100 billion. This allowed India to fine anyone who depicted Kashmir as a disputed territory. The Bill also stated that permission would have to be taken from the Government of India to initiate a business. The licenses would only be granted to a certain few therefore disturbing Kashmir’s business and trade.

BJP has also announced a direct package for Ladakh and is promoting it as a Buddhist state. The party is also trying to create sectarianism by dividing the people in Kargil and Daras therefore creating a ‘divide and rule’ situation.

Before the elections, former Chief Minister of Indian Occupied Kashmir, Omar Abdullah criticized the manipulation of migrants by BJP by giving them electoral gains. He stated that the migrants were brought for the electoral rolls. This could have a big impact on the results of the elections.

Attempts to change the demography of an occupied territory have always been condemned by the UN Security Council. The UN Commission on Human Rights have also condemned settlement practices. In 1981, the 24th International Conference of the Red Cross maintained ‘settlements in occupied territory are incompatible with Article 27 and Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. In 1946, The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg found two people guilty of attempting ‘Germanization’ of occupied territories in the Case of Major War Criminals. In 1992, the UN called to cease attempts to change the demography of Yugoslavia.

Article 35A gave Kashmiris their exclusive rights. With the Article abolished, Kashmiris civil, political, social and cultural rights are being violated. Through demographic engineering, the significance of the Article is being downplayed. It is extremely important to take the case to the international bodies as even the international organizations have deemed demography changes as illegal. It is absolutely crucial for the international organizations to recognize India’s atrocities against the Kashmiri people before it’s too late.