Srinagar: National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah on Tuesday slammed the new land laws notified by the government of India for J&K.
Calling the newly introduced J&K Development Act, which has come into force with immediate effect, as hostile to the interests of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, he said that the amendments to the land ownership law has put J&K up for sale.
“With these new laws in place tokenism of the domicile certificate has been done away with as purchasing non-agricultural land has been made easier. These new laws are unacceptable to people of J&K, Ladakh,” said the former chief minister.
Omar said that the BJP remains unchallenged in the opportunistic politics and that the issuance of the amended land rules notification smacks of its cheap politics and deceit.
“Interestingly the centre waited till the elections to LAHDC had concluded and the BJP had won a majority before putting Ladakh also up for sale. This is what Ladakhis got for trusting the assurances of the BJP,” he said.
“The new laws are a consequence of the measures undertaken by the GOI on August 5, 2019 without democratic bearings and much to the resentment and anger of the region’s populace.
“The measures are also part of a larger design aimed to destroy the local, distinctive cultural identity of Kashmir thereby giving a ditch to the successive promises made by the successive central governments from time to time,” he said.
According to Omar, “Such measures reveal that it is not the people’s aspirations which matters to the ruling dispensation at New Delhi, it is rather the land which they want to hold on and are interested in”.

KR Desk