The Economic Terrorism of Land Seizures: India’s Brutal Campaign of Dispossession in IIOJK

The fascist Indian regime has reached a new level of depravity in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir which we will now refer to as IIOJK. While the world is distracted by hollow diplomatic slogans the occupation authorities are using the most cowardly tactics to break the spirit of the Kashmiri people. They are no longer satisfied with just bullets and pellets but are now using the law to steal the very ground the Kashmiri people stand on. Since the illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019, the occupiers have launched a systematic war of economic extermination. By seizing homes and bulldozing livelihoods they are trying to turn the rightful owners of the land into homeless beggars in their own streets. This is not governance but a naked display of colonial land-grabbing and ethnic cleansing that must be exposed to the global community.

1. The Systematic Purge and Mass Attachments in IIOJK

1.1 The 2019 Aftermath and Total Property Seizures

The scale of this state-sponsored robbery in IIOJK is staggering and calculated to destroy any sense of security for the local population. According to reports from the Kashmir Times the occupation authorities have attached almost 200 properties across IIOJK since the year 2019. The intensity of this theft reached its peak in 2023 as the regime targeted residential houses and business establishments as well as vital immovable assets.

1.2 Agricultural Dispossession and Land Measurements in Ramban

In the Ramban district the situation is even more dire as India Today reports that authorities used the draconian UAPA to seize over 10 kanals of agricultural land. Further details from Rising Kashmir specify that 10.18 kanals were attached in the Gool area. These operations contribute to a massive total where India Today confirms the total attached land in the area has reached 34.11 kanals. These are not just administrative numbers because they represent the blood and sweat of Kashmiri farmers being snatched by a foreign occupier.

2. Targeting Shopian and the Heartless Eviction of Families

2.1 The Case of Sartaj Ahmed Ganai and Local Resistance

The district of Shopian in South Kashmir has been singled out for some of the most brutal property seizures. Reports from Kashmir Media Service have highlighted the case of Sartaj Ahmed Ganai whose single-storey house in the Meminder area of Shopian was seized to terrorize the local community. This action is a direct reflection of the post August 5 2019 changes designed to displace the indigenous population.

2.2 Documented Asset Valuations and Plot Measurements in Shopian

The precision of this theft is documented by Kashmir Life which reveals that a single-storey residential house in Shopian valued at Rs 15.44 lakh with a measured area of 1,258 sq ft was attached under survey number 498 min. The occupiers did not stop there as Kashmir Patriot reported the attachment of a double-storey house on a 6-marla plot valued at Rs 23,05,244 under survey number 1169 min. These calculated seizures prove that the Indian state is conducting a house-to-house economic war.

3. Legalized Theft Under the Shadow of UAPA

3.1 Targeted Operations in Kathua and Terror Financing Pretexts

The Indian state is hiding behind the black law of UAPA to carry out what can only be described as legalized theft. The Times of India has documented multiple cases where properties were attached to crush dissent. In Kathua the properties of 7 individuals were attached in a single sweep. Another report by The Times of India mentions a massive property seizure in Ramban valued at approximately Rs 70 lakh tied to enforcement actions.

3.2 Capital Seizures in Srinagar and Bijbehara Father-Son Cases

Meanwhile Kashmir Media Service has tracked the seizure of assets worth over Rs 15 million in the Khanyar area of Srinagar under UAPA. They also report another operation in Bijbehara that targeted a father and son with seizures worth over Rs 66 lakh. These figures expose a regime that is using terror laws to enrich itself by confiscating the private wealth of the Kashmiri people.

4. The Bulldozer Policy and Mass Displacement in IIOJK

4.1 Administrative Land Grabs by the Jammu Development Authority

While many properties are being seized in IIOJK many more are being reduced to dust by the occupation’s demolition squads. Kashmir POST reports that the Jammu Development Authority has recently dismantled 20 structures and reclaimed 110 kanals which is about 13 acres of land. Greater Kashmir has documented similar drives where over 16 acres of land were snatched and 10 structures were destroyed.

4.2 The Climate of Fear and Forced Evictions in Kathua

In Kathua the outlet Devdiscourse recorded the demolition of nearly 24 structures and the reclamation of 2.5 hectares of land. These anti-encroachment drives are a total fraud designed to facilitate settler-colonialism. The New Internationalist describes this as a climate of widespread fear where the state is deliberately making thousands of people homeless to change the demography of the region.

5. Exporting the Model of Destruction to India

5.1 High-Value Land Seizures and Market Valuations in Gujarat

The brutal tactics of dispossession tested in IIOJK are now being implemented with terrifying efficiency across India. The Times of India reports that in Gujarat the state has reclaimed 3,047 hectares of land since September 2024. The value of this stolen land is estimated at a shocking Rs 10,000 crore by market value and Rs 2,097 crore by official jantri rates.

5.2 Corporate Expansion and Billion-Rupee Seizures in Uttar Pradesh

In Uttar Pradesh the YEIDA has reclaimed nearly 300 acres valued at Rs 1,200 crore in Aligarh. This follows another massive operation in Bulandshahr where 155 acres worth Rs 2,500 crore were seized. These numbers prove that the Indian state has become a predatory land-grabber that rewards corporate cronies while crushing the marginalized.

6. A Call to Action Against Economic Terrorism

The facts are undeniable and the numbers are staggering. Whether it is the 200 properties attached in IIOJK or the thousands of hectares seized in Gujarat the Indian regime is engaged in a war of assets. From the Rs 15 million theft in Srinagar to the Rs 2,500 crore land grab in Bulandshahr the state is proving that it values land over human lives. The people of IIOJK are being squeezed by a regime that uses bulldozers and terror laws to delete their history.