Srinagar: The All Parties Hurriyat Conference has said that the Modi-led Indian regime is executing a calculated plan to alter the Muslim-majority identity of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir and turn it into a settler colony. In a statement, APHC spokesman Advocate Abdul Rashid Minhas highlighted concerns about the ongoing demographic changes in the region.

According to Radio Pakistan, the BJP-RSS alliance is aggressively pursuing demographic engineering by allotting land to non-locals, fast-tracking domiciles, and excluding Kashmiris from jobs and administration. The August 5, 2019, move to abrogate Articles 370 and 35-A is seen as a direct assault on Kashmir’s political and cultural identity, further exacerbating tensions in the region.

Meanwhile, the annual Amarnath Yatra began from Jammu today under strict restrictions imposed by Indian authorities, making the pilgrimage appear more like a military drill than a religious event. The first batch of yatris left Jammu’s Bhagwati Nagar base camp
early this morning, marking the start of the pilgrimage.

Daily life for locals remains heavily disrupted due to intense surveillance, body searches, and frisking at multi-layered checkpoints manned by the Indian Army, paramilitary forces, and police across the Jammu region and several parts of the Kashmir Valley.