SRINAGAR: In the early or mid-2000s if anyone even casually mentioned the term “demographic threat”, (s)he would be labelled an ‘alarmist’ in Kashmir. Late Syed Ali Geelani, then chairperson of a faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, talked about “cultural invasion and aggression” and “demographic threat” in 2008 during the Amarnath land row agitation. At the time, hardly anyone took him seriously.
In less than two decades, some of the worst fears have been confirmed. On April 9, 2025, a startling revelation came to light in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly that as many as “83,742 domicile certificates” have been granted to non-natives in the last two years alone. Exact number of domicile certificates issued to non-State subjects since August 5, 2019, remain unknown, though.
The Jammu and Kashmir government headed by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, the trusted man of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), stated in a written response to a query posed by Waheed Parra, a legislator of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from South Kashmir’s Pulwama constituency, that “…..83,742 (domicile certificates) were granted to individuals from outside the erstwhile State (Jammu and Kashmir).”
The government said that around 3,512,184 domicile certificates have been issued in two years across Jammu and Kashmir, of which, 83,742 were issued to non-State subjects.
According to Parra, the information about domiciles issued since the removal of Jammu and Kashmir’s semi-autonomy and special status in August 2019 was withheld. No data was provided for the last five years or so.
The government reply only mentioned the number 83,742 (domicile certificates) granted to individuals from outside the erstwhile State (Jammu and Kashmir).
Parra then asked the government why the matter wasn’t being investigated.
Expressing helplessness, Parra told Kashmir Times: “After the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A on August 5, 2019, there is a gripping fear among the people of Jammu and Kashmir about the possible demographic change, about being unnumbered and about outside people being added without their knowledge. It is about us. It is about our land.”
He accused Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his 40 plus MLAs of offering a unilateral surrender and normalising August 5, 2019. “Omar Abdullah’s actions are depoliticising Kashmir. He is not willing to stand up for peoples’ rights with such a massive mandate. He is mum on all key issues to help the BJP normalise everything in J&K,” Parra said, adding that the National Conference’s “lack of action has made politics redundant in Kashmir.”
“If legislators do not take up the issues of faith, land, identity, water, employment and reservation, who will?,” he asked. According to Parra, “a large-scale destruction is being facilitated in Jammu and Kashmir (sand excavation and mining), threatening our wetlands, climate, ecology, water table, and the flora and fauna.”
Parra showered praise on the stance taken by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka governments in South India, and also the West Bengal government, on the sensitive issue of the Waqf. He said it was such a shame that a Muslim majority region (Jammu and Kashmir) disappointed “over 20 crore Indian Muslims by not doing anything.”
“It is such a shame that the Omar Abdullah-led government with about 50 MLAs failed to even pass a resolution on the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025. The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly disallowed discussions in the House hiding behind bizarre technicalities," Parra told Kashmir Times.
“All resolutions on critical issues such as the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA), Article 370 and Statehood, unilateral termination of government employees and rationalisation of reservation etc were disallowed on weird technical grounds,” he added.
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