Hurriyat Leaders of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, has termed elections in territories meaningless due to Modi government's manipulation.

Talking to media in Srinagar, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said that these actions are aimed at engineering a long-term demographic change in Muslim-majority territory.

He cited the August 2019 illegal actions, including the revocation of IIOJK's special status, widespread arrests, and amendments to the Reorganisation Act, which rendered the elected legislature powerless.

Mirwaiz pointed out that the situation on the ground is tense, with people self-censoring due to fear of repercussions and noted that silence doesn't mean agreement, as there's a strong latent resistance.

The APHC leader said that civic elections cannot resolve the UN-designated disputes likes Kashmir.

Meanwhile, occupied Jammu and Kashmir today was converted into a fortress during first phase of so-called elections.

Srinagar city was officially declared a "red zone" for drone operations, curtailing freedom of movement and assembly, and portraying the election process as more of a military exercise than the democratic exercise claimed by the Modi regime.

Meanwhile, the international media including the US-based Associated Press mentioned that the occupation authorities denied press credentials to journalists, without citing any reason.

Civil society activists have strongly condemned the Indian forces' intimidation tactics and labelled the elections a sham, equating them to "occupation masquerading as democracy".