["Nations and Nationalism, EarlyView. ", "\nABSTRACT\nThis article adds to academic literature interested in two core questions: What happens to residents as a result of an annexation? And how do aggressor states maintain control over an annexed territory where there is a history of insurgency and mobilization for independence? It does so through a qualitative study exploring both civilian accounts and legal amendments made in the immediate aftermath of the forced removal of Jammu and Kashmir's (J&K) special autonomous status by the Indian government in 2019. By applying Morland's framework of demographic engineering, the study identifies how India accelerated the forced integration of J&K into the Indian Union by removing its special status to gain control over economic and investment opportunities, implementing changes to electoral boundaries, the development of military settler colonies and the issuing of domicile certificates.\n"]