‘India trying to deliberately alter Kashmir’s demography’

AJK president accuses New Delhi of settling citizens from Bihar, Punjab and Bengal in the disputed valley

ISLAMABAD: The Indian government is trying to deliberately change the demographic characteristics of the disputed Himalayan territory by resettling Indian citizens into the valley.

This was stated by the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan at a seminar titled ‘Indian designs to change the demography of Kashmir-Violation of UN Resolutions and International Law’.



The seminar was jointly organised by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), Kashmir Media Service and the Kashmir Institute of International Relations in Islamabad on Monday.

“We need to effectively communicate and raise the issue and counter misperceptions propagated by the Indian government,” Masood urged, adding that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has written to the United Nations highlighting the deliberate attempts by the Indian government to alter the racial distribution in the occupied territory.



Transferring land and making deliberate changes to the local demography violate UN resolutions, Geneva Convention and rulings of the International Criminal Court, he asserted.

“For over a decade, the Indian government has been attempting to reshape the Kashmiri population by shifting Indian citizens from Bihar, Punjab and Bengal to the territory. This will convert Kashmiris into a minority in their own territory,” he warned.

Masood said that India had been using all available means possible to quell the freedom movement in the disputed territory.



“The Indian government has always backtracked from its commitment and has never sincerely taken up the Kashmir issue during bilateral talks,” Masood alleged. He stressed the need for creating global awareness over the issue, adding that it was time that the international civil society along with the Indian civil society was engaged to positively highlight the Kashmir issue.

“We should develop a comprehensive policy and a collective narrative on the Kashmir issue. In this regard, daily communiqué with international organisations is necessary to help draw their attention to the Kashmir issue,” the AJK president said.

Other speakers at the seminar said that the Kashmir issue needs to be highlighted as a legal case to the international community and organisations. In this regards, a full-time legal team, comprising lawyers of international repute, should be engaged to prepare a case on the issue, they proposed.

Masood proposed that recommendations of the seminar should be shared with the Hurriyat leaders and the international community.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th, 2017.