Kashmiris Fear Of Losing Land To Outsiders After Article 370 Is Scrapped By The Govt

The fears that the Kashmiris had are coming true. The Indian government's decision to fiddle with Article 370 of the Constitution are bringing the horrors of illegal land grabs and civil unrest in Kashmir valley. There were concerned talks and serious warnings about it, but now it seems that the world's most militarised zone is on the verge of becoming like Occupied Palestinian Territories, which is a site of daylight land robberies by the violent settlers with the help of security forces.

Will Kashmir become another West Bank? Will we gradually see people from outside dispossessing the local community in the guise of "development in the Union Territory?"

The way Israel has been gradually removing the native Palestinian population from Occupied Territories could well be the future of Kashmir valley.

Post-1967 Arab-Israel 6-day war, in a bid to cloud boundaries of any future Palestinian state, Israeli citizens started moving towards Palestinian territories to settle as communities in enclaves, now known as ¡®Settlements¡¯. These settlements are high walled militarily secured areas with superior civic facilities and state incentives for the people living in them. Outside the settlements, poor Palestinians live like refugees in their own land. This is the fear that mars most of Kashmiris as Government of India revoked the special status of the state in the Parliament yesterday. Fear of living like refugees in their own land. Fear of losing identity. Fear of living at the mercy of ¡®outsiders¡¯.

AP

It is not that this fear arises from some paranoia. The special status that was guaranteed to the state of Jammu and Kashmir and its people at the time of accession was earlier also eroded, through deceit, in a phase wise manner by the successive puppet governments installed by the Centre. In recent years there were also talks of separate colonies for security personnel and minority Kashmiri Pandits- making people speculate about the intentions of the government to change the demography of the state. The Bill passed on Monday though ended all speculations and served as the last nail in the coffin. To the special status enjoyed by the state. To the autonomy of the state. Actually to the state itself.

AP

Ironically, while the fate of the people of J&K was being decided in the Indian Parliament, the entire state was caged. Several thousand additional troops were called to a place, already the highest militarised zone in the world.

¡°Is this how the world¡¯s largest democracy thrusts decisions on the citizens of its ¡®integral¡¯ part?¡± asked Rafia Reshi, a Political Science student hailing from the Valley who is currently pursuing her studies in Delhi.

¡°In order to carry out their sinister plans they even cheated their own people by faking a terror threat to Amarnath Yatris and tourists,¡± Rafia added.

ap/representational image

Apart from the imposition of curfew, communication blockade enforced by the state in the valley has ensured that very little news comes out of the place. A senior journalist from the state who returned to Delhi from the valley presented a grim picture.

¡°I have just come to Delhi from Srinagar. It is worse than 1846. Srinagar is a city of soldiers and spools of concertina wire¡­The forces on checkpoints have specific instructions to disallow journalists to cross the barrier. I saw a TV crew from Delhi inside a hotel outside Rajbagh Police station- They were saying Kashmir is calm,¡± he wrote on his social media account.

AFP

New Delhi has single-handedly taken a decision that changes the lives of Kashmiris while caging them and without taking into account their aspirations. This is not the first time and now definitely won¡¯t be the last.

But how New Delhi treated the same politicians, who despite popular movement against the Indian state, sided with them, sums up the sincerity of India vis-a-vis Kashmir.

History has repeated itself. In 1953 same Sheikh Abdullah, who helped India get Kashmir was back-stabbed and arrested on charges of treason. Today his son son Farooq Abdullah and grandson Omar Abdullah are meeting the same fate.

And not to forget Mehbooba Mufti-the patron of People¡¯s Democratic Party. Less than a year ago she was in coalition with the BJP government. If this is how New Delhi treats its own people, one can only imagine what will be the condition of those out rightly rejecting India¡¯s claim over Kashmir!

Many in India feel the scrapping of special status of Kashmir has led to the closure of the decades old problem. However, it may have actually aggravated the problem- with one side feeling that they have now nothing to lose.

The author is a New Delhi based freelance journalist. His views do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Indiatimes.