Speakers at a seminar in Geneva voiced grave concerns over India’s settler-colonial policies aimed at altering the demography of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).  The seminar, held on the sidelines of the 60th session of the UNHRC, was jointly hosted by the Community Human Rights and Advocacy Centre (CHRAC) and the Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR). It brought together international law experts, academicians, and rights activists from different parts of the world, including Dr. Muzmil Ayub Thakur, Advocate Parvez Shah, Tahreem Bukhari, Dr. Shugufta Ashraf, Syed Ali Raza, Mirza Asif Jarral, and others. The event was moderated by Dr. Raja Sajjad Khan. 

The speakers noted that demographic change has emerged as a critical driver of global stability. In Kashmir, however, Indian govt’s deliberate and systematic demographic engineering has not only fueled political instability but also led to the annihilation and marginalization of the indigenous Muslim population, pushing it to the edge under settler-colonial policies. They said that the redefinition of IIOJK’s age-old domicile law has been used by India as a conduit to enforce demographic change in the Muslim-majority region by settling non-state subjects in the territory.

Alongside massive political and administrative machinations, the speakers highlighted that demographic engineering through settlement policies and disenfranchisement has undermined Kashmir’s cultural identity as well as its political autonomy. Such practices, they warned, not only threaten peace and human rights but also violate international norms and risk fueling long-term instability — not only within Kashmir but across South Asia. The panelists emphasized that addressing these concerns requires urgent international attention to ensure that demographic shifts are not weaponized as tools of domination.

"Altering the demography of a disputed territory constitutes a violation of the UN Charter, which strictly prohibits an occupying power from manipulating the demographic composition of the region under its control," they remarked. The speakers urged the UN Human Rights Council to take swift action in addressing the crisis in IIOJK, ensuring that India is held accountable for violating human rights and international norms in the occupied territory.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)