Pakistan rejects J&K Reorganization Order 2020

Pakistan has strongly condemned and rejected the latest Indian action aimed at illegally changing the demographic structure of the Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir. In a statement on Thursday, the Foreign Office Spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said that the so-called “Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Order 2020” is another illegal step by India to settle non-Kashmiris in IOJ&K by changing the domicile laws. She said that this is a clear violation of international law including the 4th Geneva Convention, adding that this Indian action, a continuation of India’s illegal and unilateral steps since August 5, 2019, also constitutes a violation of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions and bilateral agreements between India and Pakistan, and humanitarian norms. Kashmiris in IOJ&K have outrightly rejected the new law as unacceptable. Indeed, the Kashmiris will never accept such blatant usurpation of their fundamental rights and attempt to change their demography and distinct identity. On 5 August 2019, the Government of India had revoked the special status, or limited autonomy, granted under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir – region administered by India as a state. Among the Indian government actions accompanying the revocation was the cutting off communication lines in the Kashmir Valley, and till today they are under siege due to lockdown. Several leading Kashmiri politicians were taken into custody, including the former chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti, who called the day the blackest in India’s democracy. The President of India had issued an order under the power of Article 370, overriding the 1954 Presidential Order and nullifying all the provisions of autonomy granted to the state. The Home Minister had introduced a Bill in the Indian Parliament, seeking to divide the state into two union territories to be governed by a lieutenant governor and a unicameral legislature.
The resolution seeking the revocation of the special status under Article 370 and the bill for the state’s reorganisation was debated and passed by the Rajya Sabha – India’s upper house of parliament – on 5 August 2019. On 6 August, the Lok Sabha – India’s lower house of parliament – debated and passed the bill along with the resolution recommending the revocation. Earlier, Indian forces had used pallet guns in 2016 and later and that blinded hundreds of Kashmiris and injured thousands of them. Amnesty International had condemned the use of pallet guns. In March 2019, a cross-party group of Members of the European Parliament called for a ban on the use of pellet guns on civilians in India-controlled Kashmir. But India has stepped up its acts of barbarism; rather it is bent upon converting Muslim majority into minority.
Modi tried to implement its program to change demography by deleting Article 370, which gave special status to Indian Occupied Kashmir, as no outsider was allowed to purchase property in Kashmir. But such move is fraught with extreme dangers. While Article 370 granted special status to J&K, Article 35A empowered the State assembly to define “permanent residents” for bestowing special rights and privileges on them. It has to be mentioned that in May 2019, the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP had claimed that the people of Jammu and Ladakh regions want immediate removal of Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution. It had also said the National Conference’s claim that it will form the government on its own in the state after the assembly elections was hollow.