World urged to stop India from illegal demographic changes in IOJK

Brussels, May 20 (KMS): The Chairman Kashmir Council Europe (KCEU), Ali Raza Syed, has called upon the international community to stop India’s recent illegal attempts to change the demographic composition of occupied Kashmir.

Ali Raza Syed in a statement issued in Brussels, while condemning the India’s latest move for introducing a new domicile law in the disputed territory, said that under the garb of the emerging coronavirus pandemic, India continued its evil designs against the interests of the oppressed people of Jammu and Kashmir struggling for their right to self-determination.

It is important to mention that under the new Indian law, the domiciles have been defined as those who have resided for a period of 15 years in occupied Kashmir and those who have studied for a period of seven years and appeared in Class 10th /12th examination in educational institutions located in the occupied territory.

Ali Raza Syed said that India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August last year and now through new domicile law, it was attempting to change the majority Kashmiri population into a minority. He said by the new domicile law, India is paving way for non-Kashmiris to easily seek permanent settlement in occupied Kashmir.

The KCEU Chairman said, there is no international legal validity of the new Indian domicile rules in occupied Kashmir, which has been already defined as a disputed territory under the UN resolutions. He added, new domicile law is illegal and a clear violation of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, international law including the 4th Geneva Convention and bilateral Agreements between Pakistan and India. The new domicile order and rules would not be acceptable to the Kashmiris as they are struggling for their rights for over seven decades, he added.

The KCEU Chairman further said, the people of occupied Kashmir are facing a complete lockdown since August 2019 and as they are recently engaged in battle of survival against coronavirus, the Government of India took this opportunity to impose news domicile against them. He said that the international community should play its role in holding a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN in Jammu and Kashmir to enable the Kashmiri people exercise their right to self-determination to decide their fate by themselves.