Srinagar: Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti on Friday asked the Jammu and Kashmir administration to use Tattoo Ground — part of which was vacated by the Army in 2015 — for the construction of a cancer hospital and a playground instead of the historic Eidgah here.
Mehbooba’s remarks came after reports of a proposal by the J&K Waqf Board to construct a hospital at Eidgah and the divisional administration’s plan to develop a playground there.
“There has been a lot of discussion for some time now over the Eidgah land. Sometimes it is said that a cancer hospital would be built there and sometimes it is said that it will be developed as a playground. What they forget is that this land has been donated for congregational prayers,” she said here.
Mehbooba said it is very important to discuss the issue and take the opinion of the Muslim community before making any changes in Eidgah.
“First, a cancer hospital should not come up near population because the waste from there can cause problems. But, if the government of India wants to construct such a hospital in Srinagar, and have a playground as well, then they have the Tattoo Ground land,” she said.
Tattoo Ground in the Batamaloo area of the city has been under Army’s use for a long time. The Jammu and Kashmir government had been asking the Army to vacate 1,000 kanals of the prime land, and in 2015, after a civil-military liaison conference chaired by the then chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the Army had agreed to vacate 136 kanals.
Sayeed had laid the foundation for a children’s park there in 2015 after persuading the Army to vacate 136 kanals of land, of which 76 kanals had been handed over to the state government.
The PDP chief said there are hundreds of kanals of land which are lying waste and could be utilised for the construction of a hospital and a stadium.
“Not only a playground, but a stadium of world-class quality can be built there, and then enough land will be available there for the hospital as well. Why are they after the Eidgah only? Jamia Masjid is mostly closed and they want to shut the Eidgah, which is used for congregational prayers, as well. So, I request the LG to use the Tattoo Ground for it and not touch the Eidgah land,” she said.
In a statement later, Mehbooba said fiddling with Waqf properties was fraught with dangerous consequences.
She cautioned the administration over “fiddling with the sentiments” of the people of Kashmir and properties of the Muslim community.
She called on the administration to revisit its policies which are being implemented rapidly and without any regard to law, interests or sentiments of the people.
Mehbooba said converting Eidgah for different kinds of facilities which are at cross purposes with the Waqf laws and the specific use for which land had been donated by Mir Syed Ali Hamdani to Muslims of Kashmir some 600 years ago, will hurt the sentiments of the local Muslim population.
“They (population) are watching the situation with lots of apprehensions and anything done against the wishes of the people and denying the space to the locals for prayers and for whatever use they have traditionally been putting it to will be fraught with dangers,” she said.
The PDP president asked the administration not to test the patience of the people.
“But, unfortunately, our advice isn’t heeded and the government is creating a pressure cooker kind of situation in the state, trying to hit the economic, social, cultural, religious and political interests of the people.
“There’s a limit to which people can take this daily dose of humiliation and deprivation,” she said.
Mehbooba said the administration has unleashed a war against the people of Kashmir and many areas of Jammu.
“The need of the hour is that the government must feel the heartbeats of the people and respond to them positively. The strong arm tactics have historically failed in Kashmir and Kashmir is not going to change its basic peace-loving character or cultural and religious identity under any pressure.
“The resistance for upholding their constitutional, legal, and economic rights will continue,” she added.
Mehbooba said “this government has no representative character and no authority” to take decisions on behalf of any community in the state, especially the Muslim community to which the Waqf properties belong.
“But now, it is not only the government that is directly encroaching upon this, but the BJP has unleashed its other associate bodies to claim land that has been always in the possession of the Muslim community and this trend has started in Pir Panchal area where people are very upset about creating fissures in the name of Waqf property and disputes that they are trying to generate about it,” she said. PTI

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Press Trust of India