Ganderbal (J&K): National Conference leader and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday hit out at media persons, asking them to "go to hell" when asked what he thought of JKPDP chief Mehbooba Mufti's letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, requesting assistance to secure a passport. "People are in grave danger, there are many issues. You care so much about Mehbooba Mufti. You should go to hell" Abdullah was seen saying.
The remark comes days after Mufti, president of Jammu Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party, in a letter noted that she wished to take her aged mother to Mecca, and that her mother, herself and her daughter had all applied for passport renewal in March, 2020, which the J&K CID had rejected on grounds of undermining of national security. "The inordinate and deliberate delay in issuing my passport is a grave violation of my fundamental right" she had also noted.
Meanwhile, JKNC Vice President Omar Abdullah on Tuesday protested against the administration's decision to impose state taxes on residents in the Union Territory living within jurisdictions of urban local bodies. "No Taxation Without Representation”. Why should people in J&K pay state taxes including the proposed property tax when we have no say in how our government is run & no say in the decision making of J&K. We are expected to be mute spectators to all unjust decisions by Raj Bhavan" Abdullah tweeted on Tuesday.
The tax, set to roll out on April 1 later this year, is titled Jammu and Kashmir Property Tax (Other Municipalities) Rules, 2023. A notification issued by Principal Secretary Housing and Urban Development Department, H Rajesh Prasad, stated that taxation was in accordance with powers conferred by section 71A of the Jammu and Kashmir Municipal Act, 2000 read with Sub-Section 1 of Section 65 and Sub Section 1 of Section 73. This comes after the MHA, back in October, 2020, allowed the administration, operating under Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, to implement property tax in areas under urban local bodies.
