Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan said that the number of Indian troops deployed in Kashmir had risen to more than 800,000 making it the largest concentration of armed troops in any occupied territory or any conflict zone.

Addressing a press conference in Muzaffarabad, he said, “A sinister plan had been drawn up by India to reduce the numbers of Muslim electorate through new delimitation of the constituencies, land grab by non-Kashmiris through the use of banking laws and long-term leases to industrialists from India to “promote investment”.

The purpose of the moves, he said, was to flood Jammu and Kashmir with Indian nationals to change the demographic composition of the territory, marginalize Muslim population and crush the freedom movement.

The president said additional 35,000 troops had been rushed to the Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) by special flights and convoys for preparing the ground for crushing protests against Indian moves to alter the special status of the valley.

Sardar Masood said India partially recognized the disputed status of the state by the insertion of Articles 370 and 35-A in its constitution.

“The latter recognizes the core identity of the state preserving the original Kashmiris’ inherent rights to permanent residence, employment, acquisition of immovable property and educational scholarships,” he said.