Separatist leader, Dr Muhammad Qasim Faktoo, who is serving life-term in jail, asked Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir to marry more than once and produce more children to “prevent a change in the state’s Muslim-majority status”.

The statement comes in the backdrop of West Pakistani Refugees living in J&K whose permanent citizenship is being strongly opposed by separatists.

BJP and some PDP leaders want the issue of refugees be resolved on humanitarian basis. Dr Qasim, husband of Duktharan e Millat chairperson Asiya Andrabi, asked doctors to desist from performing unnecessary birth control surgeries without any excuse valid under Shariah.

“In J&K, Muslims are fighting for right to self-determination keeping in mind their majority in the state and therefore expecting a favorable result of independence from forcible control of India. If the Muslim-majority status is changed into a minority, all these expectations are bound to crash,” he said in a statement issued from jail on Saturday.

Dr Qasim said the Indian rulers have been working on this plan right from 1947. “Earlier, it was done in a silent way. Now it is being done in proactive and outrageous manner. The settlement of refugees in J&K is a move towards these goals. Surprisingly, Kashmiri Muslims are themselves playing a part in their own destruction as the girls are being married late. This implies they will have less children-bearing capability,” he said.

He said the the excuse given for late marriages is that youth should become economically stable and then they fall prey to birth control slogans.

Dr Qasim said that seven per cent girls in the state are facing Polycystic Ovarian syndrome. “They are thus unable to bear children after the age of 23-24 years. Almost 10 per cent boys suffer from depleted sperm count and mortality. There has been a considerable increase in these numbers during the past 25 years which makes it clear that the food being imported here from India and the mental stress caused by the presence of troops is affecting the fertility of Kashmiri Muslims,” he said.

📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App.