Srinagar, In a recent development, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Indian government is reportedly utilizing its military forces in occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) to further the Hindutva ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and to advance its settler-colonial ambitions in the region.
According to Kashmir Media Service, India has been treating Kashmir as a colony since October 27, 1947, when it forcibly deployed its troops in Srinagar, occupying the territory against the will of the Kashmiri people. The report highlights a longstanding ambition of the RSS and BJP to colonize IIOJK through military policies. It asserts that the presence of over one million military and paramilitary troops has transformed the disputed territory into a “colony of the stone-age,” depriving people of fundamental rights and treating them as slaves.
The report elaborates on how the Indian armed forces are increasingly adopting the Hindutva ideology, involving themselves in local and political matters in IIOJK under the encouragement of the Modi regime. It cites an example of a seminar intended to promote Hindutva ideology at the University of Kashmir, which was cancelled following opposition from local political parties. The seminar aimed at discussing the Uniform Civil Code, reflecting the military’s involvement in promoting ideological agendas.
Further accusations include the Indian government’s collaboration with business tycoons to expand the colonization of Kashmir through the establishment of separate Pandit and Indian forces colonies, illegal confiscations, forced evictions, and demolition of properties. The report argues that these actions are part of a systematic settler-colonial project to convert the Muslim majority of Jammu and Kashmir into a Hindu territory by settling non-local Hindus and denying employment to Kashmiri residents.
The report also compares the BJP regime’s tactics in Kashmir to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land, noting the revocation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which previously granted special status to occupied Kashmir. Additionally, it accuses India of violating international law by dismissing Kashmiri government employees to economically strangle the local population and by disregarding the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir as recognized by the United Nations Security Council and the international community.