India prepares for ‘screening and profiling’ of Kashmiris in IIOJK

• Go to provide extensive database of Kashmiri fingerprints.
• It will help Indian army, police in maintaining records of people.
• The valley has experienced mass arrests and blackouts since 2019.

Weeks after India’s Supreme Court legalized the Narendra Modi-led government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 that revoked the special status of India’s illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), New Delhi has now braced itself for widespread scrutiny and recording profile of the inhabitants of the occupied valley.

In December 2022, a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud ruled that the IIOJK became an integral part of India “which is evident from Articles 1 and 370 of the constitution” and ordered the Election Commission of India to hold elections in the region by September 2024.

The unanimous decision came in response to more than a dozen petitions challenging the 2019 recall and a subsequent decision by the Modi government to split the region into two federally administered territories.

In its latest move to further subjugate the Kashmiri people, New Delhi approved the establishment of the Fingerprint Bureau at the IIOJK to screen and profile the Kashmiri population as part of its plans to suppress freedom sentiments in the territory.

The development comes as the occupied valley – since the Aug. 5, 2019 move by the Modi-led government to revoke the valley’s semi-autonomous status – has been subject to mass arrests, internet and communications blackouts as part of the Indian government’s efforts to suppress dissent and freedom of expression of Kashmiris.

In accordance with Kashmir Media Agency73 posts have been sanctioned for the above mentioned office in the occupied.

The Fingerprint Bureau will be headed by a Senior Superintendent of Police and assisted by a Superintendent of Police and two Deputy Superintendents of Police.

Meanwhile, a total of 22 Sub-Inspectors and 28 selection grade constables will also be part of the new wing.

By providing a comprehensive database of fingerprint records of Kashmiris, including organization and indexing coupled with regular updates, the Bureau will assist the Indian Army, Police, Paramilitary Forces and investigative agencies to conduct records checks by analyzing fingerprints fingerprints from existing files.

Pakistan has repeatedly called on the international community to hold India accountable for serious violations of human rights conventions at the IIOJK.

Last month, Acting Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani wrote to the leadership of the United Nations (UN), the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the European Union (EU) stressing that in accordance with international law, domestic legislation and judicial decisions they cannot be invoked to determine the final status of an internationally recognized disputed territory.

Condemning the illegal steps taken by the Indian authorities to consolidate their occupation of the IIOJK and persistently suppress the rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the foreign minister called on the UN Security Council to ensure the full implementation of its resolutions on the Jammu dispute and Kashmir and to urge India to end the serious and systematic human rights violations in the IIOJK and to withdraw all its illegal and unilateral actions in the IIOJK taken since 5 August 2019.

With additional input from APP