J-K admin humiliating people, People's Conference chief Sajad Lone says on eviction drive

The Jammu and Kashmir administration seems to be more interested in humiliating people than retrieving state land from encroachers, People's Conference chief Sajad Gani Lone said on Monday.

"There is not a single day when videos of poor people being targeted for demolition are not coming in while the L-G is saying the poor will not be touched. Either the L-G Office is telling lies or the videos are fake.

"Question is whether they want to retrieve the land or humiliate the people. It seems that humiliation is more important," Lone said at a press conference in Srinagar.

A former minister in the PDP-BJP coalition government, Lone said Jammu and Kashmir is part of India and should be treated on a par with the rest of the country.

"Jammu and Kashmir is a part of India, they should follow here what they are doing elsewhere. Are they retrieving lands in the rest of the country?" he asked.

Lone, once seen as close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also questioned the BJP-led Centre's claims of inclusiveness. "I thought the PM is of everyone. But (it seems) 95 per cent encroachers are Muslims. Who is my PM, who is the PM of the poor?" he asked.

Lone, however, said he would not meet the Prime Minister on the issue.

The People's Conference president said Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and a few officers, who do not even belong to Jammu and Kashmir, cannot take decisions on behalf of its people.

"The L-G cannot take decisions on behalf of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The decisions are taken by a cabal of a few officers who are here as tourists. They will leave and we will have to bear the aftermath," he added.

Governments across the globe work towards eradicating homelessness but "here we have a new model of economics where homelessness is being invented", he alleged.

"Only poor people will be affected. I am making this prediction that the rich will hire a lawyer and get back their lands," Lone added.

Jammu and Kashmir has gone through a prolonged period of turmoil and the government should not disrupt people's lives, Lone said.

"I do not know how they can win the hearts of people by demolishing their houses," he said.

Lone claimed that he had a list of people who grabbed huge tracts of land -- some in Jammu and some in Kashmir -- and alleged "not even a notice has been issued to them".

Asked about the next course of action if the demolition drive continued, Lone said he would sit on a hunger strike in Delhi.