BJP regime akin to East-India company, bulldozing Jammu and Kashmir like Afghanistan: Mehbooba Mufti on anti-encroachment drive
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday lashed out at the BJP over the ongoing anti-encroachment drive in the Union Territory, comparing the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led regime to the East-India Company who wants to reduce the erstwhile state to rubble like war-torn Afghanistan.
In a statement, the People’s Democratic Party chief (PDP) chief claimed that the situation in Kashmir is worse than Palestine where the conditions are “better”. She alleged that earlier it was suspected that BJP had taken a cue from Israel’s treatment of Palestine but now the saffron party wants to turn Jammu and Kashmir into Afghanistan.
Commenting on J&K administration’s anti-encroachment drive Mufti claimed that Palestine was in a better situation as people can at least talk about their woes, whereas Kashmir is “worse” where people’s homes are being razed by bulldozers.
Mufti compared the BJP government with the East-India Company for it’s alleged suppression of dissent and free speech, alleging that the PM Modi regime has “weaponized” its majority to “bulldoze” the Constitution, while referring to the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
The PDP chief alleged that the BJP was also weaponized media to “crush the voice of dissent and judiciary.”
Mufti claimed that the BJP government has Kashmir has turned into Afghanistan as you can find bulldozers at every corner, ready to demolish homes of those the government doesn’t agree with.
She said that the BJP has outsourced jobs and resources out of the Union Territory while probe agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and National Investigation Agency (NIA) are being used to silence dissenting journalist and politicians across the country.
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Mufti added that “crooks and conmen” are being given 45,000-hectare land while the people of Kashmir are being driven out of their land on the pretext of anti-encroachment drive.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration has launched an anti-encroachment drive to recover state land illegally occupied by “influential persons” across the erstwhile state.
The authorities have reiterated that the main target of the drive is to bring down high-profile land grabbers, however, many from weaker sections claim to have borne the brunt of the eviction drive.
According to reports, 23,000 hectares of state and ‘kacharai’ land were retrieved during the ongoing anti-encroachment drive in different districts of the Jammu division recently.
Officials said that 13,793 hectares of land was retrieved from encroachers in Rajouri, 6,100 hectares in Poonch, over 2,300 in Kishtwar, 15.9 hectares in Udhampur and some parcels in Kathua and Samba districts so far.
Last month, authorities in Kashmir demolished an outer wall of senior National Conference (NC) leader Ali Mohammad Sagar’s house near the Srinagar Airport on January 25.
A team of revenue department led a demolition drive to reclaim state land from encroachers and razed the outer wall, the main gate as well as the entry of the guard room of the NC general secretary’s residence in Humhama, near the airport, as part of the administration’s demolition drive against land grabbers.
Police in Jammu arrested five persons and detained four others for allegedly pelting stones during a protest against the ongoing anti-encroachment drive in the city last week.
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