The All Parties Hurriyat Conference has vehemently criticized India for accelerating its settler-colonial project in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir through systematic land seizures and demographic engineering.  According to Kashmir Media Service, APHC spokesman Advocate Abdul Rashid Minhas, in a statement in Srinagar, said India’s colonial occupation of Kashmir began with the 1947 invasion of Srinagar and has since been marked by continued exploitation and suppression of the indigenous population.   

He said the August 5, 2019 move, which revoked Kashmir’s special status, was another step in India's colonization of the territory, fulfilling the long-standing dream of Hindutva forces to erase Kashmir’s distinct identity.  Minhas warned that India is altering the demographic fabric of IIOJK by settling non-Kashmiri Hindus, marginalizing locals, and exploiting the region’s natural resources under heavy military control.

He added that Indian business tycoons are being used as tools to advance this colonial agenda, drawing parallels between India’s actions in IIOJK and Israel’s land grabs in Palestine.  Denouncing India’s violations of UN resolutions and international law, he criticized the global community’s silence on India’s blatant colonialism in Kashmir. “It’s time for the world to break its silence and hold India accountable for its settler-colonial ambitions in IIOJK,” Minhas asserted.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)