India to screen, profile Kashmiris in IIOJK

After subjecting Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) draconian state policies and measures, the Narendra Modi-led government is now planning to equip its forces with a comprehensive database of Kashmiris' fingerprints enabling them to conduct screening and profiling of the residents of the occupied valley.

The move comes weeks after a five-judge Indian Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud — legalised the Narendra Modi-led government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 revoking IIOJK’s special status.

The verdict was announced after more than a dozen petitions were filed in the Indian SC against New Delhi’s 2019 move to split the region into two federally administered territories.

In its latest measure to further subjugate the people of Kashmir, New Delhi has approved the establishment of the Finger Print Bureau in IIOJK for screening and profiling the Kashmiri population as part of its designs to suppress the freedom sentiments in the territory.

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

As per the Kashmir Media Service, 73 posts have been sanctioned for the aforesaid bureau in the occupied territory.

The Finger Print Bureau will be headed by a Senior Superintendent of Police rank official and will be assisted by one 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.

Provisioning a comprehensive database of fingerprint records of the Kashmiri people including organising and indexing coupled with regular updates, the Bureau will help the Indian army, police, paramilitary forces and investigation agencies to conduct record checks by analysing fingerprints from existing records.

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

Last month, caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani wrote to the leadership of the United Nations (UN), Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the European Union (EU) stressing that under international law, domestic legislation, and judicial verdicts cannot be invoked to determine the final status of an internationally-recognised disputed territory.

Condemning the unlawful measures of the Indian authorities to consolidate their occupation of IIOJK and persistent suppression of the rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the foreign minister called on the UN Security Council to ensure full implementation of its resolutions on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and to urge India to end the grave and systematic human rights violations in IIOJK and to reverse all its illegal and unilateral actions in IIOJK undertaken since August 5, 2019.

With additional input from APP