In May 2023, Indian authorities continued to commit grave human rights violations in Indian-administered Kashmir (IAK). The G20 Tourism Working Group meeting was held in Srinagar, Kashmir from May 22-25, drawing widespread criticism. During the meeting, Indian authorities made false claims that the Kashmiri press enjoyed “absolute freedoms” and dismissed criticism regarding the human rights situation in IAK. Leading up to the meeting, the Indian government heightened security checks, increased raids and arbitrary arrests, and closed schools and stores. There was also an increase in reported extrajudicial killings, with Indian forces killing at least 12 people in IAK. Meanwhile, political and economic disempowerment continued in the region. For a summary of the human rights impact of the G20 meetings in Srinagar, please see ANNEX: Reported Human Rights Consequences of the G20 in IAK.

In April 2023, Indian authorities continued to commit grave human rights violations in Indian-administered Kashmir. Indian forces killed at least two adults and one unborn child. At least one person was killed by unexploded ordnance. Indian authorities continued to suppress the right to freedom of expression, specifically targeting Kashmiri journalists. The Jammu & Kashmir administration continued its ongoing systematic campaigns to displace Kashmiris from, and dispossess them of, their residential, agricultural and commercial property on various pretexts. In developments with a disproportionate impact on IAK, Indian authorities continued their ongoing censoring and erasure of information that contradicts or challenges state-preferred narratives, including through revising textbooks to eliminate history and imposing government approvals over social media content about Indian authorities.

In March 2023, Indian authorities continued to commit grave human rights violations in Indian-administered Kashmir (IAK). Indian forces committed at least three extrajudicial killings. In addition, Indian authorities claimed to recover the mutilated corpse of Abdul Rashid Dar whom Indian forces abducted and forcibly disappeared in December 2022. Additionally, the Jammu & Kashmir administration continued its repression of the freedom of expression and violations of the social, economic, cultural, and political rights of Kashmiris. The administration continued its escalated campaign of expropriation and systematic dispossession of locals’ property through pretextual “anti-encroachment” drives. Two developments involving the Indian central government are expected to contribute to continued grave violations in IAK. First, the Indian Supreme Court ruled that mere membership in an association deemed unlawful by Indian authorities is sufficient grounds for prosecution under India's counterterror laws. Second, Indian authorities are actively procuring alternatives to the NSO Group’s Pegasus software. Indian authorities intensified their repression of human rights work in IAK through the arrest of human rights defender Irfan Mehraj and a second arrest of human rights defender Khurram Parvez in an ongoing case againt a leading human rgights organization, the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS). This case against JKCCS is unique in that it criminalizes a leading human rights organization for doing human rights work per se.

In February 2023, Indian authorities continued their systematic repression and rights violations in Indian-administered Kashmir (IAK) with impunity. Indian authorities intensified their ongoing campaign of expropriation and destruction of civilian property, including homes and personal property. The Jammu & Kashmir administration utilized the heightened political disempowerment of the local population to further their economic disempowerment through new property taxes. The administration redoubled its digital surveillance of employees, especially targeting those critical of government policy. The administration also continued to arm, train and finance Hindu vigilante groups with a history of racist violence, criminality and grave rights violations. Survey results from international media correspondents in India described the Indian government’s harassment of journalists and obstruction of journalism with respect to certain topics, including in particular the situation in IAK. In a case with broad significance for the rights to free expression and a free press, and the free operation of international media in India or territories controlled by India, Indian authorities raided the BBC’s offices in India in retaliation for releasing “The Modi Question,'' a documentary on the Narendra Modi administrations’ responsibility for Hindu supremacist violence targeting Muslims in India (the documentary itself was banned in India).

The already dire humanitarian and human rights situation in IAK has substantially deteriorated since August 4, 2019 when Indian authorities imposed new, violative laws and policies on IAK – illegalities predicated on earlier illegalities condemned by the UN Security Council. At that time, the Indian government further intensified its militarized repression in IAK, escalated collective punishment and mass illegal imprisonment of dissenters, and consolidated its dominance over the local population while totally cutting Kashmiris off from the international community. Indian authorities have subsequently implemented policies facilitating and incentivizing forced demographic change in the region in favor of non-local Hindus, cultural erasure, and the economic and social disempowerment of IAK’s Muslims, Kashmiri Muslims in particular, in their homeland. Other grave human rights violations remain ongoing. Indian authorities have increasingly targeted Kashmiri human rights defenders and other dissenters – including journalists, scholars, lawyers and political activists – for repression through legal restrictions on their work, raids of their homes and places of employment, arbitrary arrests and detentions under counter-terror laws, and physical abuse.