India’s Modi-led fascist regime has introduced and revised numerous laws in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) to alter its demographic composition and undermine the socio-economic and political rights of Kashmiris, who have been a ‘headache’ for New Delhi for 77 years by demanding their birthright to self-determination, as enshrined in United Nations resolutions on the lingering Kashmir issue. Under the cover of draconian laws such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), Public Safety Act (PSA), and Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), India’s notorious agencies, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the State Investigation Agency (SIA), have been intimidating the freedom-loving people of IIOJK.
Property seizures have become a new tactic, adding to the countless methods of torture and terror used to control and suppress them, as these laws effectively grant Indian troops a license to arrest, detain, and kill Kashmiris without trial, while also allowing them to confiscate properties with complete impunity.
Jammu and Kashmir has been a point of contention between India and Pakistan since partition in 1947. From a legal perspective, property rights in the region have been shaped by a complex interplay of state, Indian and international laws. The revocation of Article 370 in 2019, which granted special autonomy to IIOJK, further distorted the region’s legal framework concerning property rights. The abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A escalated tensions, resulting in intensified crackdowns and deployment of additional security forces to suppress the ongoing struggle of pro-freedom activists.
With the abrogation of statehood in 2019, India provided a legal basis to non-state actors by issuing domiciles and allowing them to become permanent residents of IIOJK, thereby turning them eligible for rights reserved for the state’s subjects. Such developments have worsened the human rights situation in IIOJK to an alarming degree. Surveillance and monitoring of freedom-loving individuals, leaders and workers of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), political and social activists, as well as raids on media outlets and human rights defenders have increased dramatically.
Amendments to land laws in IIOJK have granted legal authority to illegal settlers from India to confiscate the ancestral lands of the region’s inhabitants. This systematic land seizure has opened the door for Hindu extremists to enter the occupied valley under the guise of pilgrims, settle around various Hindu religious shrines, and establish separate colonies. Their mission is to alter the region’s demographic composition while providing refuge to Hindu criminals who further advance these designs of demographic engineering in the occupied territory.
A new tactic of oppression
The demolition and illegal confiscation of properties are integral to India’s systematic settler-colonial campaign in IIOJK. The destruction of homes, forced evictions and seizure of land are all part of its broader strategy to cripple Kashmiris economically, intensifying their vulnerability and marginalisation, and rendering them unable to sustain their freedom struggle. Indian authorities have marked the properties of pro-freedom individuals in IIOJK for attachment as part of a calculated plan by the fascist Modi regime. The resulting forced displacements have triggered widespread suffering, humanitarian crises, and deepening insecurity among the oppressed local population — results that India’s barbaric forces try to justify under the pretext of maintaining law and order.
Property attachments in IIOJK have had direct and serious implications for the region’s socio-political landscape. It is well established that the people of IIOJK have waged an unmatched struggle for freedom for over seven decades, determined to end Indian state terrorism and achieve liberation from fascist rule. In recent years, the police and other Indian agencies have deliberately attached hundreds of properties belonging to ordinary Kashmiris, freedom fighters, and political activists who have been part of the region’s more than seven-decade-long struggle for freedom. The attachment of properties has become a powerful tool to intimidate and suppress freedom seekers by targeting their critical resources, including homes, businesses, agricultural land, and commercial properties. The forcible seizure of property without due legal process not only stifles dissent but also deepens cycles of oppression, tension and injustice.
Relentless land seizure
Below are just a few examples of incidents where the Enforcement Directorate confiscated the properties of Kashmiris in IIOJK following baseless allegations made by India’s NIA and SIA:
On December 31, 2024, Bandipora Police attached two kanals and 7.5 marlas of residential land, valued at 5.25 million INR, which belonged to a resident of Hilalabad Nesbal village named Mushtaq Ahmad Mir. The land was seized under UAPA after Mir, who currently lives in Pakistan, was declared a proclaimed offender in an FIR registered at the Pethkote Police Station.
The IIOJK police attached the Rajouri-based properties of two other individuals - Bhattian village residents Ishtiaq Ahmed and Zahid Ali Khan – the same day. Both the individuals, who currently reside in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, were “accused of activities linked to supporting anti-national elements,” according to an IIOJK police spokesperson. The attachment of their properties - measuring six kanals and 18 marlas – was declared “part of ongoing efforts to dismantle the networks of handlers and their associates operating in the region,” by the spokesperson.
On November 14, 2024, the NIA attached the immovable property of Adil Manzoor Langoo after accusing him of conspiring with two others. The property, located in Zaldagar, Srinagar, was seized under Section 25 of the UAPA.
On June 27, 2024, police in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) attached properties belonging to five individuals from Baramulla, collectively valued at 10 million INR. All five currently reside in AJK.
On April 25, 2024, police attached properties belonging to four more Kashmiris in the Kupwara district. The police declared these individuals, who had migrated to AJK, as “absconders.” It is noteworthy that 51 other Kashmiris were similarly declared “absconders,” making them additional targets for property confiscation.
On April 8, 2024, the Modi regime declared 11 Kashmiris — Mohammad Maqbool Pandith, Hilal Ahmad Ganie, Mudasir Shafi Geelani, Habibullah Sheikh, Shabir Ahmad Najar, Mohammad Ashraf Dar, Ghulam Nabi Najar, Fayaz Ahmad Mir, Muhammad Lateef, Sadar Din, and Aziz Din — as proclaimed offenders and attached their properties.
On March 12, 2024, the Enforcement Directorate seized properties worth billions of Indian rupees in Srinagar, including 18 kanals of land.
On February 29, 2024, the Modi regime attached the properties of four individuals in the Ganderbal district of IIOJK. The confiscated assets included agricultural land: one kanal and one marla registered under the name of Bashir Ahmad Bhat; 19.5 marlas belonging to Mehrajuddin Shah; two kanals and 15 marlas belonging to Fayaz Ahmad Shah; and two kanals and 15 marlas belonging to Saifuddin Shah.
Continuing its campaign to seize Kashmiris’ land and properties under various pretexts, the Narendra Modi-led Indian government attached the properties of four more individuals — Muneer Ahmed Banday, Afaq Ahmed Wani, Abdul Moomin Peer, and Saleem Andrabi — from the Kupwara and Handwara areas of IIOJK on February 24, 2024.
On February 1, 2024, police seized a mini shopping complex comprising four shops owned by Farooq Ahmed Dar in the Handwara area of Kupwara district. On the same day, they also attached the property of Bashir Ahmed Khanday in Kulgam district, which included a double-story residential house and a cowshed. A day earlier, police and India’s notorious agencies seized an under-construction house belonging to Aijaz Ahmad Ganai in Kulgam district.
On January 17, 2024, the Enforcement Directorate provisionally attached properties worth 50 million INR under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in the case involving Muhammad Akbar Bhat and others. The attached assets, which include seven immovable properties and two bank accounts, are registered in the names of various individuals, including Muhammad Akbar Bhat (Zaffar Akbar Bhat), Fatima Shah, Qazi Yasir, Muhammad Abdullah Shah, Muhammad Iqbal Mir, and others in Jammu and Kashmir.
On January 7, 2024, the NIA attached the property of civilian Mushtaq Ahmad in the Chanapora area of Srinagar.
Indian authorities have also confiscated the APHC headquarters in Srinagar, along with hundreds of houses and properties belonging to Hurriyat leaders and other organisations, including those of Syed Ali Gilani Shaheed, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Aasiya Andrabi, Zaffar Akbar Bhat, and dozens of Jamaat-e-Islami activists across IIOJK. Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM) chief Aasiya Andrabi’s house, located on the outskirts of Srinagar, was attached by the NIA under the UAPA on July 10, 2019 and marked the first such action by the agency against a separatist leader from IIOJK. The NIA had registered a terror funding case in May 2017 against the DeM leadership, accusing them of raising, receiving and collecting funds to finance separatist activities in IIOJK.
Kashmir leaders’ stance
The Modi regime must recognise that India’s brutal military occupation and colonial tactics have failed to subdue the Kashmiris’ resolve for freedom in the past and will continue to fail in the future. The international community must step forward and play its due role in facilitating the resolution of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN resolutions.
The leaders of the AJK chapter of APHC have strongly condemned the confiscation of Kashmiris’ properties in IIOJK by the Enforcement Directorate. APHC leaders, human rights activists and other freedom seekers stress that the attachment of properties belonging to its leaders and freedom-loving people by the NIA is a deliberate attempt to intimidate Kashmiris and suppress their legitimate demand for the right to self-determination.
No power on earth can stop the people of Kashmir from achieving their ultimate goal of freedom. Indian barbarism cannot break the unwavering resolve of the Kashmiris, who are the proud heirs of hundreds of thousands of martyrs. Attaching the properties of freedom seekers has become a daily routine of India’s barbaric forces in IIOJK. The Indian Enforcement Directorate’s ongoing campaign to seize the properties of Hurriyat leaders and other activists is part of Hindutva’s brutal tactics to crush the spirit of Kashmiri leadership and suppress their rightful demand for a plebiscite, as guaranteed under UN resolutions.
I call upon the international community to take note of the unjust actions by India’s Bharatiya Janata Party government, urging them to protect the basic human rights and aspirations of the Kashmiri people who have been fighting for the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions that guaranteed them the right to self-determination.
The confiscation of properties every other day is a new method being used by India to render the people of occupied Kashmir homeless and landless. The international community has a responsibility to hold accountable those states that violate human rights and disobey international law. In the case of IIOJK, the attachment of properties constitutes a clear violation of numerous international conventions and treaties, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
It is imperative that the UN and other international organisations condemn such actions and exert pressure on the Indian to respect the rights of Kashmiris and give them right of self-determination as per UN resolutions. The immediate need is to stop India from attaching properties of freedom seekers and let them to exercise the birth right as per UN resolution.
In this comprehensive report, the Institute of Voice of Victims has worked diligently at the grassroots level, collecting firsthand information from those who have witnessed and suffered from the actions of offenders during the confiscation of properties belonging to the common people of Kashmir. The Institute gathered data on various sites where properties were sealed or confiscated, approached journalists who reported these incidents, and compiled their findings to finalise this report. Reports from various credible news agencies were also cross-checked on the ground by the Institute. After thorough investigation and analysis, this report has been meticulously prepared and can serve as a reliable reference for human rights organisations at both national and international levels. It is hoped that this report will be used by all those working for the betterment of humanity and that, if given due attention by international forums, it will lead to positive responses and meaningful impact for the people of IIOJK.
Therefore, it is incumbent upon the international community to unequivocally denounce the inhuman tactics of Indian state terrorism, including property attachments, and to support the legitimate aspirations of the Kashmiri people for freedom, justice, and self-determination. Only through concrete efforts to uphold human rights, enforce international law, and ensure the Kashmiri people's right to self-determination can a just and lasting resolution to the conflict in the state of Jammu and Kashmir be achieved.
Altaf Ahmed Bhat is the Chairman of the Institute of Voice of Victims
All facts and information are the sole responsibility of the author