Srinagar: Amid the ongoing "anti-encroachment" drive in Jammu and Kashmir, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah on Monday accused the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha-led administration of "creating lawlessness" in the Union Territory.
Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, Omar said that the bulldozer action in the UT has created fear and anxiety among people adding the government is adopting “illegal procedure” while carrying out the demolition drives. Omar said that the government has “admitted in the high court that the lists (of land encroachers) being circulated on social media are fake”. He said that his sister went to the high court where the government admitted that it has not published or circulated any list.
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"These lists have created anxiety among people. The land on which my sister's house is at Gupkar is still under a lease that has not expired. Yet my sister had to go to court," he said. He asked if the list circulated on social media is fake, on what grounds are bulldozers being run on properties when the list has not been issued by the government as claimed in the high court?
"Wherever they take bulldozers, they don't show papers or documents. Everyone is being threatened that if he asks any question, his house is bulldozed the next day. It is now giving rise to corruption and lawlessness in society," he said. He said the administration should release the list in the public domain and mention names of those who have encroached on land here and serve notice to them by following a legal procedure to retrieve the land.
"We are not in favour of encroachment of state land, but using bulldozers to retrieve land is not legal. Follow the legal procedure and we will support it," he said. Omar's urgent presser comes at a time when the LG Manoj Sinha-led administration is on a spree to retrieve “state land” allegedly encroached upon by the “influential” over the years. The drive has however created anxiety among people in the UT. In the Jammu province, in particular, the drive has been met with fierce protests.
