Government of India hs introduced new domicile law for Occupied Kashmir. New rules promulgated on April 1st, say those who have studied in J&K for 7 years and appeared in either Class 10 or Class 12 exam will also be eligible for J&K domicile certificates.
The Narendra Modi government has redefined domicile for government jobs in the newly-created Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir through the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Adaptation of State Laws) Order, 2020.
By settling the residents of India in occupied territory the Indian government is going to change the demography of Muslim majority state into minority in few decades.
The notification by India’s Hindu Nationalist government comes as the country of 1.3 billion people is under 21-days lockdown due to coronavirus fear.
According to the notification, anyone who has resided in J&K for 15 years or has studied in the state for seven years, and appeared in either the Class 10 or the Class 12 examination, will be eligible for domicile certificates.
The new rules also state that migrants registered by the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner do not need to fulfill the amended requirements.
Until 05 August, only J&K residents were eligible to apply for jobs or own immovable property in the erstwhile state.
According to the new rules, children of officials with the central government, all India services, public sector undertakings, public sector banks, statutory bodies, central universities and recognized research institutes of the central government who have served in J&K for 10 years will also be eligible to apply for gazette and non-gazetted government jobs in the UT.
The new rules have also been extended to children of those who fulfil the above mentioned criteria even if they do not live in J&K.
Scholars, academicians and political analysts have termed this domicile law very dangerous for Indian occupied Kashmir.
While the law has triggered fear among Kashmiris about the permanent settlements by the outsiders, the experts say it will lead to “demographic flooding”.
Political analysts and academicians say that the whole purpose of revoking article 370 was to settle outsiders here and change the demography of the state.
Under the new domicile law, the Indian rulers want to destroy the Muslim identity of Kashmiris by settling Indian Hindus in the territory.
Khurram Pervez, a human rights defender based in Indian occupied Kashmir said: “By virtue of this order, outsiders are also to be claimants of jobs in Jammu and Kashmir, which already has a huge unemployment problem. This is an act against the interests of unemployment youth”.
The OIC and other human rights organizations have condemned the demographic change in Jammu and Kashmir.
Indian occupied Kashmir is the world’s largest militarized zone with highest military presence in the region. Kashmir is under strict lockdown since 05 august when Indian government unilaterally abrogated the Article 370 of its constitution scrapping the autonomous nature of the state which assured the erstwhile state its own constitution.
Now during the worldwide Pandemic, Indian authorities have issued another controversial order when whole country is under lockdown. The government decision also comes when leaders of most political outfits in J&K are under detention.
Thousands of civilians have been detained and lodged in different Indian jails where they are facing worst form of inhuman and dehumanizing treatment. The WHO has already recommended the release of prisoners on parole but the Indian government has become reluctant to release the political prisoners lodged in different Indian jails.
As of now 92 people have been tested positive in Indian occupied Kashmir with 2 deaths.
According to various human rights organizations, at least one lakh people have been killed in the conflict since 1989 whereas over 1.5 lakh have been injured.
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