2008

The Indian governor and members of the local pro-India political elite gave 100 acres of land in Kashmir to the Amarnath Shrine Board, a non-Kashmiri institute. The “land deal” violated the protection of land guaranteed under Article 370 and Article 35A by India to Kashmir, which limited ownership of land only to the permanent residents of Kashmir. Kashmiris saw it as an attempt to alter Kashmir’s demography and launched an agitation against it. More than 100 protestors were killed over the next few months and thousands were injured. Hindu nationalists imposed an economic blockade on Kashmir for weeks leading to a food crisis in Kashmir, as they closed the only highway into Kashmir.