Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti.
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
Former J&K Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on July 5 accused the Lieutenant Governor’s administration of “playing a dangerous game”. The government she fears is attempting to import 10 lakh people into the UT. The cover for this plan is a scheme to provide land to the landless.
“A dangerous game is being played in J&K on the pretext of providing land to the landless. We will not allow it. People of Jammu and Kashmir on the lines of Ladakh will resist such moves to import poverty and slums into J&K,” Ms. Mufti, said while addressing the media in Srinagar.
Ms. Mufti quoted the figures of the 2011 census of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and sought clarification from the L-G administration.
“According to the 2021 report of the ministry, there are 19047 homeless people, including around 10,000 in urban areas and around 8000 in rural areas, in J&K. However, the L-G recently said land is being provided to 1.75 lakh families and aims to cover two lakh families, which comes to around 10 lakh people, under a Prime Minister’s scheme for landless people. Who are these people who intend to settle here? What is wrong with this government?” Ms. Mufti said.
The former J&K Chief Minister said the L-G administration is treating J&K after August 5, 2019, as “spoils of a war”. “After the abrogation of provisions of Article 370 in 2019, J&K’s land, jobs, resources etc. are being treated as spoils of war. Instead of working for the betterment of locals’ lives, this government is importing poverty and slums to a beautiful piece of land called J&K,” Ms. Mufti said.
Ms. Mufti said the people of J&K did not join hands with India as refugees but came with a beautiful piece of land. “The same land is being snatched away from us. Such moves will be resisted. We will not let it happen. Why is the government, which claims Kashmir is peaceful after 2019, constantly provoking people? This provocation came just a day after the Supreme Court decided to hear the petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370,” she said.
She said there was an attempt to “unpeople locals and create a new thing in J&K”, which will further put stress on jobs, land, electricity, water etc. for State Subjects, a term used for locals prior to August 5, 2019. “Why are you pushing the people of J&K to the wall?” she said.
She asked the L-G administration to provide five marlas of land to displaced Kashmiri migrants. “Kashmiri Pandits are living in flats. Why not provide land to them?” she added.
The L-G administration recently approved a proposal for the allotment of 5 marlas (.031 acre) of land each to landless living in the UT under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G). The land will be given to the landless and those occupying State and forest or any other land, where construction is not permitted, a government spokesman said. It did not clarify if the outside migrant workers, living in Jammu and Kashmir, are excluded or included in it or not. J&K hosts a sizable population of migrant workers in the UT.
Meanwhile, BJP state president Ravinder Raina, while reacting to Ms. Mufti’s statement, said, “The program’s aim was to extend the benefits of land ownership to those who had been deprived of it for years. Unfortunately, rather than supporting the welfare of the people, some local politicians, including Mehbooba Mufti, have chosen to exploit the situation for their political gains. These politicians, known for their controversial propaganda theories, have resorted to instigating unrest among the people of J&K.”