Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced amendments to the residency laws in Indian Kashmir for the first time since 1947, in an effort to eliminate any attempt to challenge the issue of the region's subordination - the disputed - to India.
Modi's Hindu nationalist government aims to change the demographic composition and identity of the Muslim-majority region, and experts have compared the matter to plans for Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories.
The following is a review of the new rules and their implications for the region's population of 14 million.
What did Modi do in Kashmir?
The Himalayan state has been divided between India and Pakistan since independence from Britain in 1947.
In the part administered by India, conflict between separatist rebels and government forces has killed tens of thousands since 1989, most of them civilians.
More than 65% of the population of this segment are Muslims. In the Kashmir Valley, the main center of the insurgency, the figure is close to 100 percent.
On August 5, 2019, the Modi government repealed - in a controversial move - articles in the Indian constitution that included the special rule for Kashmir, and other rights, including its flag and constitution.
The region witnessed a huge security operation that accompanied the decision, by sending tens of thousands of additional forces, joining the 500,000 soldiers already present, and strict curfews were imposed as a blockade, and the Indian authorities stopped thousands of people and cut off all types of communications for months.
The state of Jammu and Kashmir was demoted to a region directly governed by New Delhi, while the Ladakh region was considered a separate administrative region.
This step has led to more anxiety among India's Muslim minority, amounting to 200 million people, as well as advocates of the country's secular traditions, who fear that Modi wants to establish a Hindu state, which he denies.
Mona Bhan, assistant professor of anthropology at Syracuse University, who has conducted research for a long time on Kashmir, says: "What I see unfolding is a settler-colonial Hindu project in the making."
What happened to the Kashmir Special Provisions?
The Modi government abolished special residency regulations in Kashmir that date back to 1927, and only guaranteed permanent residents to own land and property, obtain government jobs, places in universities, and vote in local elections.
Now a group of different classes of people from anywhere in India can apply for residency certificates, giving them access to all previous privileges.
These include those who have lived in Kashmir for 15 years, including some 28,000 refugees who fled Pakistan, and up to 1.75 million migrant workers, most of them Hindus.
In addition, civil servants who have worked in Kashmir for 7 years and their children, or students who have taken certain exams; All of them also qualify for residency status.
Commenting on this, historian and political analyst Siddiq says that these changes are "the most radical since 1947, and they are taking place with the intent to open the doors to a demographic torrent."
What should residents do?
Local residents also now have to apply for new "citizenship certificates" in order to be eligible for permanent residency rights.
To obtain new permanent residency rights, local residents must present permanent residency certificates issued since 1927, after which they become null and void.
In fact, residents say they are forced to offer their political loyalty to India in exchange for a living.
What if people complain?
About 430,000 new home certificates were issued, despite measures related to the Covid-19 pandemic, but it is unclear how many of them were obtained by people from outside Kashmir and how much for locals.
Locals refuse to hand over their old documents, though this makes life more difficult.
One student comments, "It is a farce that I have to compete with strangers for citizenship rights in my country."