The Great Land Grab: Indian Occupied Kashmir

India basically confiscated Jammu and Kashmir in August of 2019.  This is not to minimize in any way the suffering that the people of Jammu and Kashmir experienced under seven decades of Indian oppression. In October of 2019, India enacted new laws, and amended others, that allowed Indian nationals to purchase land in Kashmir. The purpose of this, of course, it to change the demographic composition of Kashmir and reduce the majority Muslim population to an oppressed minority.

There are many things we must consider today, including the crime of land theft, and what that means for the people of Kashmir.

A recent report by Middle East Eye discusses the destruction of homes and businesses that Indian officials say were built illegally on what they call ‘state land’. These officials say they are reclaiming the land for the state, but the land was never theirs to begin with, and in this circumstance, the word ‘reclaiming’ actually means ‘stealing’. Their efforts are not only to steal the land, but to demoralize the people and thus end resistance to their colonial efforts.

This is happening throughout Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir

The Indian government has made no secret of its effort to replicate the brutal actions of the Zionist entity over the Palestinian people, and the governments of most countries, more interested in the economic benefits they can get from India than that country’s atrocious human rights violations and constant violations of international law, simply ignore the horrific suffering of the people.

It is reported that a major Indian manufacturing company has begun construction of a new factory in Kashmir. This is part of the Indian’s government effort to create facts on the ground, another tactic it is taking from the Zionist entity. India sees how apartheid Israel has, for decades, been able to escape accountability for its land theft, and all its crimes, and plans to replicate the entire model. But major unrest in the apartheid Zionist entity should give Indian Prime Minsiter Narandra Modi something to think about. But his rabid hatred of all things Islam will continue to blind him to the realities of the Kashmiri situation, which, even if his brutal policies continue, will never bring him the victory he wants. Like Israel’s fruitless efforts to break the will of the Palestinians, the Kashmiris have proven, and continue to prove, their resilience.

Neither urban nor rural areas are exempt from Indian brutality in all its forms, including land theft. People in remote woodlands have been driven from their ancestral homes, and the apple trees that provided fruit and juice to sell, and that have sustained them for generations, have been destroyed by Indian army officials. The wooden homes in which families lived have been demolished.

When talking about Kashmir, a discussion of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is always appropriate, since in this context, India has violated nearly all of them, despite being a signatory to the Declaration.  The Declaration starts with a “…recognition of the inherent dignity of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family….” The various articles of the declaration discuss the right to life, liberty and personal security; the right to be free of torture or degrading treatment of any kind; equality of all under the law; freedom from arbitrary arrest or detention, the right to own property, and many other basic, human rights.

Indian army members will often engage in what they describe as gunfights, attacking people in houses where they allegedly suspect that some Kashmiri opposing their brutal and unjust rule may be hiding. In one such situation in May of 2020, 15 houses were destroyed by a fire set by Indian soldiers, but not before those soldiers stole jewelry and cash from the houses. This left multiple families homeless, and with no redress under the law.

This behaviour is not unusual. Even before the abrogation, eyewitness accounts, accompanied by videos shown on social media, show Indian army forces setting houses on fire after arresting people they define as ‘militants’.

A report on March 17, 2021 in the Global Village Space reported on current destruction. “The increasing trend in the killing of Kashmir youth and the burning of residential houses with explosive materials have been termed as tactics of the incumbent fascist Indian regime to suppress the voice of Kashmiris by inflicting a human as well as economic loss.” [1]

Time does not allow me to detail the horrific abuses that India commits in violation of the articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; I have done so in other places, and will again in the future, I’m sure. Already, all the major governmental posts have been taken from Kashmiris and given to Indians; arrests, detentions, torture, disappearances and other brutal actions are perpetrated on a daily basis by Indian army members on Kashmiris. No one – not men, women or children – is exempt. While this has been happening for over 70 years, it has worsened since the abrogation of Article 370 in August of 2019. Following the abrogation, many Kashmiris were fearful of leaving their homes. If they were even suspected of saying anything in opposition to the Indian government, they risked arrest, or worse. Even an innocuous comment on social media could bring down the wrath of the Indian government, against which no Kashmiri has any legal defense. Now even their homes are being taken from them, depriving them of the relative safety that they provided.

Text from an address at the webinar: “Indian Settler-Colonialism: The Great Land Grab – Indian Occupied Kashmir”

Notes.

[1] https://www.globalvillagespace.com/shopian-encounter-continuation-of-indian-oppression-in-iiojk/. Accessed on March 17, 2021.

Robert Fantina’s latest book is Propaganda, Lies and False Flags: How the U.S. Justifies its Wars.