Govt to declare any local area as a ‘strategic area’ on the army’s behest, is alarming: APHC
People of J&K are not ‘dumb driven cattle’ who will ‘withstand assaults upon the motherland’
The All Parties Hurriyat Conference on Wednesday stated that it will protest against the new land laws in Jammu and Kashmir and a complete shutdown on October 31.
“APHC headed by house arrested chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and senior leaders like Abdul Ghani Bhat, Bilal Ghani Lone and Masroor Abbas Ansari have strongly denounced the incessant anti-people orders being issued by the government of India at frequent intervals to intimidate and psychologically torture the people of J&K,” APHC stated in a press release.
“One after other laws are being invented and amended by New Delhi and forcibly thrust upon the people of J&K. From bringing in the arbitrary ‘domicile law’ opening up residency rights to J&K to non-permanent residents, to amendments in ‘The J&K Civil Services (Decentralisation and Recruitment) Act’, to allot jobs and education to outsiders, to laws exploiting our natural resources, and now by brazenly repealing the land law – to let anyone from across India own land in Jammu and Kashmir, hence, taking away from the residents of J&K the exclusive right to their land and property in order to ease the settling of outsiders here. Besides, the law allows Govt to declare any local area as a ‘strategic area’ on the army’s behest, is alarming,” APHC further added in the press release.
The party further stated in the press release that the ‘imperial approach is bound to fail’, adding that people of J&K are not ‘dumb driven cattle’ who will ‘withstand assaults upon the motherland.’
The Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notification on Tuesday (October 27) allowing citizens of India to buy land in Jammu and Kashmir.
Significantly, after the Ministry of Home Affairs notification, anyone can buy and sell land for a factory, house, or shop in Jammu and Kashmir. For this, he does not need to give any permanent residence certificate as before.
However, the notification states that land will not be taken for agriculture.
Earlier, the newly formed People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) protested the move and said it will continue to fight for the land rights of Kashmiris.
Issuing a statement the PAGD said, “the alliance strongly condemns the repeal of J&K Land Laws thereby stripping the Permanent Residents of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh of exclusive right to acquire and hold immovable property in the State – now unconstitutionally divided into two Union Territories and granting such rights to non-state subjects.”
Sajad Lone, the PAGD spokesperson termed the MHA order as a ‘huge betrayal’ and said, “this is a massive assault on the rights of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh and grossly unconstitutional. The alliance has vowed to fight the anti-Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh measure on all fronts”.
“The repeal of Big Estates Abolition Act – first-ever agrarian reform in the subcontinent, is an insult to the sacrifices of thousands of freedom fighters and farmers who fought against an autocratic and oppressive rule and a crude attempt to rewrite history. The order made in exercise of powers under Reorganisation Act, 2019, it is stated, is yet another brazen violation of the principle of constitutional proprietary of fundamental importance to a constitutional democracy,” he added.
With inputs from Agencies
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)