In the influential essay, “Can the Subaltern Speak” published in 1988, post-colonial author Spivak wrote that the common man – despite being in the majority – lies at the lowest level of society’s hierarchical pyramid and has little to no say in mainstream discourse. Though written in the post-colonial framework for colonial India, Spivak’s essay perfectly fits the predicament of Kashmiri Muslims today. The infamous delimitation commission report and the Draft Electoral Roll of 2022 published by the Indian government in the Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) are startling examples of efforts to systematically liquidate the majority Muslim population from legislative spheres. The dominant political entity on the all-India level, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), orchestrates dominant groups at the regional level, alongside local political parties in the IIOJK, to achieve its ambitions of dharma politics fixated on the supremacist ‘Hindutva’ ideology. In the process of doing so, the BJP is trampling multiple UN conventions as it aims to alter the demography of the region by isolating Kashmiri Muslims to a point where they are rendered a voiceless majority. After the abrogation of Article 370, the Indian government introduced a ‘Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act’ in 2019, which proposed changes in the constituencies of IIOJK. These changes, at face value, talked about increasing the representation of Kashmiris in the centre by creating a commission for the delimitation of constituencies. An in-depth analysis of this legislative Act highlights the BJP’s bias against Kashmiri Muslims. Seven constituencies have been added to the Hindu-majority Jammu region, whereas only one constituency has been added to the Muslim-majority Kashmir. It alters the region’s demography as now Kashmir has 47 seats compared to 46 earlier and Jammu now has 43 seats compared to 37 earlier, even though Muslims make up 68.31 per cent of the total population of Jammu and Kashmir. The inclusion of non-local voters, mostly Hindus, gives BJP leverage in the elections against the local parties. Moreover, following the completion of this delimitation exercise in June 2022, the BJP called for remapping the electoral rolls of these constituencies – the Draft Roll of which got published on September 15. The first “Special Summary Revision” culminated on November 25, 2022. A total of 7,72,872 new voters became a part of the new electoral roll, which makes up 10.19 per cent of the registered electors. This figure is alarming as it hints at the addition of outside voters in the IIOJK electoral rolls. In this regard, Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief spokesman Ravinder Sharma said, “Our apprehension that some non-eligible voters have been added from outside Jammu and Kashmir as per announcement appears to be true.” This inclusion of non-locals into the electoral rolls is a follow-up to the ‘New Domicile Law 2019’ in IIOJK, under which domicile certificates were issued to non-locals in Kashmir, replicating the pattern of settler colonialism. The people belonging to the Indian central government, public sector banks, Indian services, central universities and research institutes, who have worked for ten years in IIOJK, were offered domicile certificates to reside and work in the valley. It also includes those who have studied in the valley for seven years or anyone who has been a resident of IIOJK for fifteen years. This law allows the BJP to change the region’s demography by conjuring up a Hindu majority that caters to the effort of the Indian government to solidify its occupation of Kashmir. The inclusion of these non-local voters, mostly Hindus, gives BJP leverage in the elections against the local parties, such as the National Conference and People’s Democratic Party. BJP’s political control of the IIOJK supplements India’s effort in quelling the independence movement of the locals. Thus, the natives, a Muslim majority, are being denied their rights, by limiting their access to any form of decision-making, either through delimitation or information blackout aimed at inducing political amnesia. For BJP, this move is a part of its larger design of creating a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ accordingly to its radical Hindutva ideology, which thrives on xenophobia. BJP fosters this Hindu nationalism through Islamophobic rhetoric, and targeting Kashmiri Muslims in the process is a crucial part of expanding this dangerous strand of nationalism. The objective of such gimmicks is to deprive the people of Kashmir of their legitimate political rights and thus the eventual disappearance of their identity and sense of self. The United Nations need to take notice of these blatant violations of its Charter and engage India for rectifying this rapidly deteriorating situation. The UNSG needs to appoint a Special Representative on IIOJK to monitor and report Indian wrongdoings. The Organization of Islamic Countries also needs to effectively raise its voice to persuade India toward a constructive course change, due to the influence it wields over India through economic ties and labour import. Pakistan should continue to highlight Indian atrocities against the Muslim residents of IIOJK across all international forums. Nida Khattak is a Researcher at the Centre for Aerospace and Security Studies (CASS), Lahore, Pakistan. She can be reached at casslahore@gmail.com