Srinagar, Indian Administered Kashmir India has enacted a number of new laws, and amended some, that allow any of its citizens to buy land in disputed Indian-administered Kashmir, a move that has been condemned by residents.
Kashmiris fear that the new laws, notified on Tuesday, will target a “land grab” to dilute the Muslim majority character of the region, whose partial autonomy was removed in August 2019, placing it under the direct control of New Delhi.
The land laws, the latest in a series of changes authorized by the right-wing Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), were implemented on the day Kashmir observed “Black Day” to mark the arrival of the Indian army in the main city of the Srinagar region in 1947.
Kashmiri men walk through a garden lined with dry leaves of Chinar trees in Srinagar [File: Mukhtar Khan/AP]
Tuesday’s notice issued by the federal Interior Ministry removes the reference to “permanent residents of the state,” allowing any Indian citizen to purchase land in the disputed region.
The new laws also allow land acquired by the government for industrial or commercial purposes to be alienated or sold to any indigenous person.
They also authorize the Indian army to declare any area “strategic” for operational and training purposes against the Kashmiri rebels.
Everything is being done as it happened in Palestine.
Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed in its entirety by both, enjoyed autonomy under article 370 of the Indian constitution, which guaranteed land rights to residents and prohibited their sale to foreigners.
The law had outlived several governments in New Delhi before the BJP-led government repealed it in 2019 and divided the region into two federal territories: Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
In defense of the new laws, Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha, the region’s chief administrative officer, said Tuesday that it was a decision made to encourage industries and that agricultural lands will not be affected.
“I want to say this strongly and with full responsibility that agricultural land has been kept reserved for farmers. No outsider will come to those lands, ”he said.
“The industrial areas that we have defined, we want industries to come here like the rest of the country so that Jammu and Kashmir can also develop and create jobs.”
‘As it happened in Palestine’
Muslims in Kashmir fear that the new land laws aim to change the demographics of the region.
According to a 2011 census conducted by India, Muslims comprise 68.31 percent of the region’s 12.5 million inhabitants, while Hindus make up 28.43 percent. Muslims dominate the Kashmir Valley with more than 96 percent of the population.
Jozia Akbar, a 28-year-old university student in Kashmir, told Al Jazeera that the new laws “have reinforced our fears that everything we possess could be taken at any time.”
“Everything is being done as it happened in Palestine,” he said. “People lost and continue to lose their homes and their lands. These laws openly announce what our parents and grandparents have protected for centuries and what they have sacrificed for. “
The fear of Kashmir becoming another Palestine has intensified in the region, and even its former chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti, made such references.
‘For sale’
Muslim politicians in the region, including Mufti, have expressed shock and resentment over the new laws, accusing India of putting Kashmir land “up for sale.”
Yet another step that is part of GOI’s nefarious designs to disempower and disenfranchise the people of J&K. From the unconstitutional scrapping of article 370 to facilitating the looting of our natural resources and finally putting land up for sale in J&K.
– Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) October 27, 2020
Omar Abdullah, another former senior minister and once a prominent pro-India leader, said India’s decision was “unacceptable” and would affect smallholders.
“Even the symbolism of domicile has been removed when the purchase of non-agricultural land and the transfer of agricultural land has been facilitated. [Jammu and Kashmir] it is now for sale and the poorest small landowners will suffer, ”Abdullah tweeted.
Mufti and Abdullah are now part of the People’s Alliance for the Gupkar Declaration, a conglomerate of pro-India Kashmiri leaders demanding the restoration of autonomy and status in the region.
In a statement, the alliance said the land laws were a “great betrayal” and a “massive assault” on the rights of Kashmiris.
– Sajad Lone (@sajadlone) October 27, 2020
Kashmiri experts and activists fear that the new steps will lead to “disorganization and deprivation of the local population.”
“After Article 370 was repealed last year, the same step is now being taken. The new laws increase the sense of insecurity and have the potential to turn locals into strangers within their own lands, ”Sheikh Showkat Hussain, a law professor and political analyst, told Al Jazeera.
Khurram Parvez, a Kashmiri-based rights activist, said the “real reason” behind the repeal of Article 370 was “land grabbing and demographic changes.”
“BJP had stated then that it was being done to ensure development, job creation, women’s empowerment and transparency. The people of Kashmir knew that the real reason was the land, ”he told Al Jazeera.
“It couldn’t be more brazen and violent as all these laws are being introduced in the middle of a pandemic.
On the repeal of section 370, India stated that it was being done to ensure development, job creation, empowerment of women and transparency.
The people of Kashmir knew that the real reason for the repeal was land grabbing and demographic changes. It cannot be more brash and violent.– Khurram Parvez (@KhurramParvez) October 27, 2020
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