Narendra Modi government of India has issued a notification, aimed at depriving native Kashmiri Muslims of their inherent right of citizenship in the occupied Kashmir. From henceforth, a Kashmiri Muslim will have to prove on a piece of paper that he or she has been living for the past 15 years in the areas for which a domicile or bonafide residency certificate is sought for. This situation feels like deja vu for the people Indian held Kashmir. History will record this event in similar words, to maltreatment that had been meted out to Red Indians and Aborigines in America and Australia, respectively. Prime Minister Imran Khan has expressed anguish and indignation over the new domicile law and described it a strategy to alter the demography of occupied Kashmir.
The Gazette Notification, titled, “Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Decenttralisation and Recruitment Act) defines a domiciled person as the one who has resided for a period of 15 years in Kashmir, now converted into a two union territories. After the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, giving special status to occupied Kashmir, its territorial limits were bifurcated into two union administrative units of Kashmir and Laddakh.
Prior to this new anti-Kashmiri Muslims regulation, Article 35-A of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir defined that a person can get domicile and bonafide resident certificate, if he or she is registered as migrant by the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner in the union territory. The new domicile rules have been vehemently criticised by native Kashmiri Muslims.
Prime Minister Imran Khan had drawn the attention of likely ethnic cleansing of Kashmiris in his policy statement in parliament and his speech in the UN General Assembly. He had cautioned the world that BJP government has stepped into the shoes of Israeli governments which establish Jewish settlement in the areas under the jurisdiction of Palestinian Authority for the ethnic cleansing of Arabs in Palestine. The new domicile law for Indian held Kashmir is based on the philosophy of Hinuvta, which is identical with neo-Nazism.
In August last year, Chairman All Parties Hurriate Conference, Syed Ali Geelani had made SOS like tweets, asking Organisation of Islamic Countries to take notice of policy of “Ethnic Cleansing” Kashmiris that New Delhi government is discreetly implementing. Painfully, he wrote on tweeter that if Muslims all over the world keep quiet over the atrocities and killings of Kashmiri Muslims, then they will be answerable to Allah, the Magnificent on the day of resurrection. But ironically, leaders of Islamic countries did not respond strongly and loudly to the call of Kashmiri leader, except President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahatir Muhammad. Despite the sustained diplomatic efforts by Pakistan, a special OIC meeting of Foreign Ministers on Kashmir could not be convened.
The anti-native Kashmiri domicile law will certainly deprive them off citizenship rights and making it very difficult for them to get government jobs, even in the areas of their birthplace.
