A senior pro-freedom figure in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir warned residents against New Delhi's move to scrap the special status of the region.
In a detailed statement issued by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), Syed Ali Geelani urged Kashmiris not to sell property including land, houses and shops, to any outsiders or non‐state subject.
The APHC is an amalgam of over a dozen pro-freedom political parties led by Geelani against Indian rule over Jammu and Kashmir.
"Renting out property to outsiders also needs to be avoided," said Geelani who is under house arrest in the capital Srinagar.
He also advised businesses to "evolve a consensus that they will not, in the name of business, enter into any such agreement with any outsider that would require them to sell their property to the outsiders."
Geelani's statement came after India on Aug. 5 removed all special provisions granted to Jammu and Kashmir which did not allow outsiders to buy land in the disputed region. The natives of the Muslim-majority region fear that India may seek to change its demographics.
- DISPUTED REGION
Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.
Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.
Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.
According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.
