Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma has alleged that Pakistan’s strategy in the Union Territory has shifted from terrorism to an organised attempt to alter its demographic character through illegal infiltration, encroachment and settlement.
Sharma made the remarks as a high-level Central government committee examining demographic changes is visiting J&K and meeting stakeholders to gather information on population shifts and their possible causes.
Calling the alleged demographic exercise a “part 2 of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism”, the BJP leader said the objective was no longer limited to armed violence but was aimed at changing demographic composition of parts of the Union Territory.
“Jammu and Kashmir was purely a Sanatani
state. Turk (Turkish), Purtagalis (Portuguese) and Arabs — invaders continued religious conversion using force,” Sharma said, while presenting his account of the region’s history. He then linked what he described as the historical process of religious conversion to the militancy that erupted in Kashmir in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
“Now in the Muslim majority UT, Pakistan sponsored terrorism tried to make J&K Hindu free. They succeeded in Kashmir by ensuring Kashmiri Pandits exodus and attempts were made in nearby districts too,” Sharma said.
The BJP leader alleged that after the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits, attempts were made to target the region’s cultural and social identity. “Culture was attacked but Government of India and nationalist people foiled such plot after a while,” he said.
Sharma claimed that, after what he described as the failure of the earlier strategy, a new effort was launched through illegal immigration and settlement. “After they failed, they planned another conspiracy by infiltrating illegal citizens to J&K and other states of India. By this they wanted to create a demographic change,” he alleged.
Speaking to reporters in Jammu, he specifically linked the alleged demographic change to land encroachment, claiming that forest land, state land and other properties were being occupied to facilitate settlements. “Forest land, state land was encroached and attempt was made to make people live there. You will notice unnatural increase of a particular community,” Sharma said.
The LoP also cited what he described as an example from a village where, according to him, there was only one house belonging to a particular community in 2005, while its population had risen to around 5000 over the following two decades.
His remarks come as the Centre’s High-Level Committee on Demographic Change examines demographic shifts linked to illegal immigration and other causes. The committee was constituted by the Government of India on May 26, 2026, with a mandate to study demographic changes, their causes and consequences and suggest policy and legal measures.
Sharma said he expected the committee’s findings to result in stronger legal measures. He said that “GOI has taken these facts seriously and formed a committee on demographic change. Officials will now do unbiased fact finding,” Sharma said. He added that political parties had not been invited to participate directly, but stakeholders were being consulted.
BJP leader described the alleged process as “land jihad”. He said the committee was in J&K to interact with stakeholders and ascertain the facts.
