‘Anti-encroachment drive’ new weapon for BJP to persecute Kashmiris: Mehbooba Mufti

Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti has said that the so-called anti-encroachment drive launched in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir is a new weapon for the BJP’s Hindutva government to persecute the Kashmiri people and uproot them from their homes.

Mehbooba Mufti talking to reporters in Srinagar said, “This is a new weapon being used by the BJP government, like they have the UAPA, PSA, NIA, ED and other agencies, to persecute the people of Jammu and Kashmir and uproot them from their homes”.

“Otherwise, China has occupied 20,000 square kilometres of our land, let the government take that land back first,” she added.

Mufti said some of the people who have been targeted through the anti-encroachment drive possessed their land since the time of Hindu Maharaja Hari Singh, like the Hotel Nedous in Srinagar.

“First they created a wedge between Hindus and Muslims, then between Gujjars and Bakerwals and Shias and Sunnis. Now, they are creating a wedge between the rich and the poor by saying they are going against the rich, while the truth is that the houses of poor people are being demolished”.

Calling upon the people of IIOJK to unite in order to fight against this onslaught, she said, “Till the people of Kashmir and Jammu do not unite, we will not be able to fight this onslaught…. Do not be a spectator, come forward and raise the issues”. The PDP chief said the Governer House and the Badami Bagh Cantonment area in Srinagar were built on state land and should be vacated first.