Kashmir Under Occupation
The Revocation of Article 370 and the Settler-Colonial Project
“The dispossession of the natives, dense militarization… share uncanny similarities [with Palestine].”
Ather Zia, Anthropologist
August 2019 Turning Point: The Modi government stripped India’s only Muslim-majority state of its semi-autonomous status.
Total Lockdown: Enforced through communications blackouts, mass arrests, and the influx of tens of thousands of troops.
Mechanisms of Control
Demographic Engineering
New “domicile laws” allow non-locals to acquire land rights, mirroring West Bank settlements.
Criminalizing Dissent
Use of draconian anti-terror laws to indefinitely detain journalists and activists without bail.
Religious Suppression
Forced closures of historic mosques for Friday prayers under the guise of security.
The Israeli Model
Officials openly cite Israeli settler tactics as a blueprint for dispossession in Kashmir.
Comparative Analysis
Kashmir is an active settler-colonial project. Dispossession and surveillance mirror the infrastructure of violence in Palestine.
Indian Muslim American Movement