Kashmir Impulse Desk

Srinagar, May 20 

Former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday criticised the recent demolition drive in Jammu’s Sidhra area, alleging that the National Conference-led government had blocked a bill introduced by her party to protect people living on small patches of state land.

Speaking to reporters in Shopian during the People’s Democratic Party’s ‘Kath Baat’ outreach programme, Mehbooba said around 60 houses had recently been demolished on the grounds that the occupants were residing on state land.

“We had brought a bill to safeguard people living on five or 10 marlas of Khaschari land, but the government did not allow it,” she said.

Mehbooba alleged that authorities had used different justifications for demolition drives over the years.

“Earlier, houses were demolished in the name of militancy. Now they are being pulled down in the name of state land and drugs,” she said.

The PDP chief said drug peddlers should face strict legal action but questioned the demolition of homes belonging to their families.

“There is no doubt that drug peddlers should be sent to jail, but what fault do their families have that their houses are being demolished?” she said.

Mehbooba also criticised the registration of police cases against people cultivating poppy for domestic use.

“It does not make any sense to register FIRs against people cultivating poppy seeds for phirni,” she said.

Referring to an alleged shortage of fertilisers in Kashmir, the PDP president said inadequate supplies were affecting the farming and horticulture sectors in the region.

“When our fruit is ready, roads are shut. Now there is another conspiracy of not supplying fertilisers to the region. If farmers do not receive fertilisers on time, how will they manage?” she said.

During the interaction programme, Mehbooba said local residents had informed her about a shortage of Controlled Atmosphere (CA) storage facilities in the area. She alleged that cold storage operators were overcharging farmers and that several traders were delaying payments to apple growers.

“The government should intervene in this matter,” she said.

Explaining the purpose of the PDP’s ‘Kath Baat’ outreach initiative, the PD chief said the programme was launched because people in Jammu and Kashmir had experienced a sense of “suffocation” after 2019 and thousands of youths were lodged in jails.

Referring to jailed parliamentarian Abdul Rashid Sheikh, she said, “Engineer Rashid was allowed to attend the last rites of his father because he is a Member of Parliament, but there are hundreds of jailed youths whose parents died while they remained unable to attend their funerals.”

Mehbooba also criticised the administration over the ban on Jamiat Siraj-ul-Uloom, saying the institution had produced many doctors and engineers over the years.

She said that an atmosphere of fear continued to prevail in Jammu and Kashmir.