New domicile law triggers fear
The law has raised fears of bringing demographic changes in predominantly Muslim J&K
In the past one year, the government has in unseemly haste introduced several new laws and altered many existing ones in Jammu and Kashmir, the enterprise to the dismay of vast sections of its population.
While the government authorities insist the enactments are legally sanctioned and follow the pattern set by the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A ending the special status of the erstwhile state within the Indian Union, people here and also in Jammu ask why not a single such or similar law has been introduced in Ladakh carved out of J&K as a separate Union Territory.
As no one in the government has attempted to answer this justifiable question, so far, people tend to believe bringing in changes in J&K’s statute and the haste with which it is being done are “ill-intentioned”.
It is mainly the new domicile law introduced earlier this year which has raised fears of the beginning of demographic changes in predominantly Muslim J&K.
Reports pouring in mainly from Jammu say that thousands of nonlocals have been granted domicile certificates during the past couple of months. They include some IAS officers, their family members, refugees of erstwhile West Pakistani and members of Balmiki Samaj and Gorkha communities.
While various political and social groups in Jammu have publicly expressed apprehension that they might lose their land and identify as a consequence of the new domicile law, in the Valley the dominant public view is: India is transforming Kashmir into another Palestine.
“There are instances which clearly indicate that the Government of India is following the footsteps of Israel to change the demography of J&K and assimilate it socially and culturally after altering its Muslim majority character. People are worried over it,” said Noor Ahmed Baba, political analyst and former professor at University of Kashmir’s political science department.
J&K’s major regional mainstream parties have termed the implementation of new domicile law as “ill-advised, arbitrary and dishonest” as Supreme Court has yet to decide on a series of petitions challenging the abrogation of Articles 35A and 370 and cautioned the government that it’s “misadventure” is fraught with grave consequences for the state and the country as a whole.
CPIM leader Muhammad Yusuf Tarigami warned, “Changing the demography of J&K, plundering its people of their identity and going back on constitutional guarantees and commitments of the country’s leadership which provided the basis for the state’s accession will only invigorate alienation”.
However, BJP spokesman, Anil Gupta, rejected the criticism as “unfounded, motivated and part of a misinformation campaign aimed at misleading people for political reasons.”
He said, “The new domicile law will neither change the demography nor snatch the jobs of the local youth. It will, however, end certain discriminations and injustices which were there but went against the constitutional guarantees.”