In a deeply disturbing development, the Indian government has begun collecting extensive financial and personal data of mosques and religious seminaries in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

This unprecedented move constitutes a blatant violation of religious freedom and clearly reflects a policy of institutionalized Islamophobia. Notably, this data-gathering exercise is selectively applied only to Muslim religious institutions, while Hindu temples and sites belonging to other faiths remain completely outside its scope. Such discriminatory targeting unmistakably demonstrates that Islam and Muslims are the central focus of India’s coercive policies in the occupied territory.It must be recalled that Jammu and Kashmir is not an integral part of India but a disputed territory, whose final status is to be determined through a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations. India occupied the state in October 1947 and later granted it a special constitutional status under Articles 370 and 35A. However, in August 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Narendra Modi unilaterally abrogated this status and illegally annexed the territory, dividing it into two Union Territories. Since April 2020, India has further intensified its illegal actions by issuing domiciles to non-Kashmiri Hindus, thereby engineering demographic changes in IIOJK.In January 2026, Indian........

© Pakistan Observer