Jammu & Kashmir

Kashmiri Pandit organisation ‘Panun Kashmir’ welcomes demolitions in Kashmir

An outer wall being demolished by the revenue department team in Kashmir. [File Photo]

Jammu: An organisation of migrant Kashmiri Pandits has welcomed an ongoing demolition drive being carried out by the Jammu and Kashmir administration across the union territory.

The organisation has also also demanded the formation of an SIT to probe the role of the NC and the PDP in the alleged promotion of “separatism” in JK.

As per a PTI report, a statement to this effect was issued by Panun Kashmir chairman Ajay Chrungoo on Wednesday.

It came at a time when several politicians from Jammu and Kashmir, including former chief ministers Omar Abdullah of the National Conference (NC) and Mehbooba Mufti of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), have voiced their concerns against the drive.

Mufti recently accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of turning Jammu and Kashmir into Afghanistan by “demolishing the homes of poor and marginalised”, while Abdullah said he was against encroachment but the administration should follow the due process of law.

As claimed by the JK administration, land measuring more than 10 lakh kanals has been ‘retrieved’ after the commissioner secretary of the revenue department, Vijay Kumar Bidhuri, directed all deputy commissioners to ensure a 100-per cent removal of encroachments from state land, including “Roshni” and “Kahcharai” (grazing land), on January 7.

“We welcome the action taken by the Jammu and Kashmir administration against the illegal encroachments and constructions across the Union Territory, particularly by top political bigwigs. Panun Kashmir asks both the leadership at the helm of the governments in Jammu and Kashmir and the GoI to recognise such corrupt and illegal activity not merely as acts of corruption, but as acts of internal subversion,” Chrungoo told reporters.

The demolition drive in Jammu and Kashmir is going on for the past many weeks as the administration has ordered the seizure of “state land” and the removal of structures built on it.

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