The Indian government continues its repression on human rights defenders in kashmir and this year suspended passports of up to 200 Kashmiris, especially targeting human rights defenders, says a think-tank in its latest report.
In a further escalation of Indian authorities’ war on Kashmiri dissent, Indian authorities suspended the passports of up to 200 Kashmiris, including students, lawyers and journalists. Those targeted received notices that their passports had been “impounded” allegedly because they were deemed a “national security threat.”
Those targeted include Kashmiris in IAK and outside of IAK and India. Kashmiris from IAK have no ability to obtain a passport other than an Indian passport. Kashmiris are routinely denied passports or passport renewals and their travel documents are routinely canceled for alleged dissent.
In 2021, Indian authorities authorized denying Kashmiris passport issuance and renewal, as well as government services and employment, on the basis of an adverse police report for dissent. Kashmiri journalists have especially been targeted by Indian authorities’ denial when holding a valid India passport, in what experts have described as “systematic harassment” of Kashmiris’ right to travel, even the Jammu & Kashmir administration continued to prevent the operation of High Court Bar Association.
On July 15, 2023, the administration invoked Section 144, which prohibits meetings of more than 4 individuals, to prevent the Jammu & Kashmir High Court Bar Association (JKHCBA) elections from taking place. The JKHCBA has been the primary professional organization providing legal aid to victims of human rights violations in IAK.
For the last several years, the JKHCBA has been prevented from operating and its senior leadership has been targeted for persecution, including through raids, defamation, arbitrary detention and judicial harassment. All other Kashmiri civil society institutions defending human rights have also been rendered inoperative, including the Kashmir Press Club, the largest elected trade body representing journalists in IAK, and the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, the most prominent and widely respected human rights organization in IAK.
Violations of academic freedom
Indian authorities have removed the literature of poet Agha Shahid Ali and novelist Basharat Peer from the Master of Arts in English curriculum at Cluster University and University of Kashmir. The widely and internationally acclaimed censored works speak to the impact of violence in and on Kashmir.
Indian officials claim such “resistance literature” leads to “secessionist” ideology. This is an escalation of the ongoing official manipulation of curricula and texts to conform to a state-supported, Hindu supremacist, militant ethno-nationalist agenda. It is also an escalation of the suppression of academic freedom in IAK, which has recently included the targeting of Kashmiri scholars, subjecting Kashmiri scholars to coercion, abuse and intimidation, prohibiting academic institutions in IAK from holding international events discussing IAK without prior government approval, forcing Kashmiri academics to disclose details of their personal assets while prohibiting them from traveling abroad without prior government approval, requiring Kashmiri academics to obtain prior approval to invite non-Indians to campus, investigating Kashmiri academics for the “pernicious influence of secessionism,” purging Kashmiri academics with dissenting views from their posts and undermining the independence of institutions of higher education in IAK by subjecting them to direct Indian government control.
Arbitrary raids and collective punishment
Indian officials arrested and detained numerous additional individuals based on purported connections to “terrorism”.
On July 5, 2023, Indian forces launched a cordon-and-search operation in Nowpora Jageer, Kreeri, Baramulla, Kashmir. Indian forces arrested Mohammad Seediq Lone, a resident of Nowpora Jageer, Kreeri, who they labeled a “militant associate.”
Cordon-and-search operations are a frequent form of collective punishment in IAK in which an entire community or neighborhood is detained and which frequently result in grave violations.
On July 9, 2023, Jammu & Kashmir police detained a group of people attending a seminar at a Srinagar hotel for allegedly seeking to “revive” pro-self-determination groups in IAK, specifically the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, a pro-self-determination political party, and the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), a coalition of pro-self determination political parties in IAK.
On July 14, 2023, Jammu & Kashmir police preventively detained Ameer Hamza, a resident of Quilmuqam, Bandipora, Kashmir, under the PSA, allegedly for “his continuous involvement in anti-national activities.” On the same day, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Mushaib Fayaz Baba, a 20-year old resident of Shopian, and Hilal Yaqoob Deva, a 35-year old resident of Shopian, in connection with an alleged “terror conspiracy.”
On July 15, 2023, Jammu & Kashmir police arrested three Kashmiri pony guides in Sheshnag, Kashmir seeking to offer pony-riding services to Hindu pilgrims participating in the militarized, state-run Amarnath Yatra pilgrimage for simply “scuffling.”
On July 25, 2023, Jammu & Kashmir police and the Indian army’s Rashtriya Rifles (29th battalion) arrested Dayem Majeed Khan and Ubair Tariq, residents of Panjigam, Bandipora, Kashmir, at a checkpoint for allegedly being “militant associates.”
On July 26, 2023, the Jammu & Kashmir police arrested Dr. Rubani Bashir and two unnamed, alleged “overground workers” at a checkpoint in Ashmuji, Kulgam, Kashmir claiming they were a “terror module.” Dr. Bashir is a PhD scholar and a resident of Ashmuji.
Indian authorities continued to systematically raid Kashmiri homes under the pretext of “terrorism”.
On July 11, 2023, the NIA raided five locations in Anantnag, Shopian, and Pulwama, Kashmir, allegedly in connection with a “terror conspiracy” case and forcibly took personal devices and data. On July 13, 2023, the NIA conducted raids at five locations in Awantipora, Shopian and Pulwama, Kashmir, which they claimed were the residences of “hybrid militants and OGWs.”
On July 18, 2023, State Investigation Agency (SIA) carried out raids at 10 locations in Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag, Kashmir, including the residences of Danish Hamid Thoker and Ubaid Padder of Chakoora, Shopian and Abrar Farooq Wani of Heff, Shirmal.
On July 20, 2023, the NIA raided another five locations in Kashmir which they claimed were residences of “hybrid terrorists and OGWs.”
Political dis-empowerment and demographic chnage
Three bills to further dis-empower Muslims in IAK introduced in Indian parliament One bill would give preferential Scheduled Caste status to the Valmiki community, a pro-BJP constituency in Jammu & Kashmir. Another bill would give preferential Schedule Tribe status to Gadda Brahmins, Kolis, Paddaris and Paharis, pro-BJP constituencies in Jammu & Kashmir.
As discussed in our March update, these bills structurally advantage pro-BJP interests in Jammu & Kashmir and continue to further the political and economic disempowerment of Muslims in IAK and particularly the majority Kashmiri Muslim community – the community that has been most ardent in defending human and democratic rights in IAK, including the right to self-determination. The Valmiki and Pahari communities, in particular, have been the focus of BJP efforts to disproportionately and discriminatorily empower its core constituencies in Jammu & Kashmir.
A third bill would reserve three seats for pro-BJP Hindu groups – two specifically for ethnic Kashmiri Brahmins (or Pandits) and one for Hindus who historically resided in Pakistan-administered Kashmir – in the Jammu & Kashmir legislature. The Indian-appointed chief executive of Jammu & Kashmir would appoint those members. The Jammu & Kashmir legislature, historically a non-representative body convened through manipulated elections and intended to legitimate illegal occupation and annexation, has not functioned since 2019 and has since been subject to various processes, including blatant gerrymandering, that have furthered the structural disempowerment of Kashmiri Muslims.
New Jammu & Kashmir administration program announced to further forced demographic change in IAK
Economic dis-epowerment
On July 5, 2023, Manoj Sinha, the Indian-appointed chief executive of Jammu & Kashmir, announced a program to grant five marlas (roughly 1,350 square feet) of land in IAK to each of 199,000 beneficiaries by 2024. This policy furthers previous policies facilitating and incentivizing forced demographic change in the region in favor of non-local Hindus, which policies also include the pretextual expropriation of Kashmiri Muslim property in IAK and measures advancing their disempowerment.
On July 6, 2023, residents of downtown Srinagar protested the government’s installation of smart meters, which will increase their cost for electricity use. Echoing longstanding grievances regarding India’s colonial exploitation of Kashmiri resources, one protester said: “This power is generated on our rivers. The government is sending it to outside states. Then they increase tariffs here to buy power. How can we pay Rs 3,000- 5,000 bill for smart meters.”
India’s Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), a force responsible for grave and widespread violations in IAK over decades, has for the first time begun a house-to-house data collection campaign in Kashmir,
reportedly on the instructions of India’s Home Ministry. Physical surveillance is widespread and systematically practiced in IAK, by bureaucrats as well as hundreds of thousands of military and police personnel empowered to stop and search people with impunity and raid homes and places of business, as well as through an extensive network of informants.
In addition to physical surveillance, Indian authorities have extensive digital data collection and surveillance systems in IAK, including CCTV and facial recognition systems, spyware like NSO Group’s Pegasus and social media surveillance through dedicated police resources and vigilante groups.
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