Jammu & Kashmir

Mehbooba asks people to take control of their land as demolition drive continues in JK

Mehbooba Mufti along with a party worker during a Press Conference at PDP headquarters in Srinagar, Kashmir on Feb 15, 2023. [FPK Photo / Kaisar Ali]

Srinagar: As the demolition drive has picked its pace in both Jammu and Kashmir districts with structures being bulldozed and land seized by the revenue officials, Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti appealed to the people to take control of their land as it belongs to them.

She said in absence of the government, people including Mohalla Committees, Panchayats and others should take control of their land in their respective areas.

“People were earlier being called anti-national and now they are being called encroachers,” she said while replying to a query.

The former Chief Minister added that people are being suppressed in one way or the other, however, sentiments of people about the Kashmir resolution cannot be jailed like the way people, especially youth have been jailed and shifted outside.

“Those who have been jailed are being given bread and salt as food,” she said.

She said that during the coalition government of PDP and BJP, she didn’t allow BJP agenda to prevail in Jammu and Kashmir and that she doesn’t take statements of Home Minister Amit Shah seriously as those are “Jumlas” only.

Reacting to Amit Shah’s interview yesterday, she said there are no facts in his statement, as he has himself admitted earlier that statements are just ‘Jumlas’.

“JK State has been downgraded to Union Territory, the economy is at stake, but to divert the attention from main issues, JK has become a focal point for them for this purpose,” she said.

On being asked about “Naya Kashmir” statement, she said employed people are being unemployed by throwing them out of departments, people including journalists are being jailed and houses are being demolished, which is Naya Kashmir.

On G-20 summit, she said that the summit at a time of raiding BBC offices and demolishing houses will have serious consequences for the country’s reputation.

Mehbooba added that it is a tactic to demolish the houses of people to force them to join a particular party and get money from the rich people and nothing beyond that.

On PDP’s coalition with BJP, she said her father had taken a wise decision. “During the coalition government, we didn’t allow their agenda to prevail. We didn’t allow them to carry out any anti-people activity. People can criticize me for my steps, I am not BJP, but till the government was there, we didn’t allow their agenda to prevail,” she said.(KNO)

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