Hurriyat Conference calls for protests on Oct 31
SRINAGAR : The All Parties Hurriyat Conference has called for peaceful protests against the Centre’s ‘anti-people orders’ on October 31.
The alliance, which is led by Mirwaiz Farooq, said the Centre’s imperial approach was bound to fail. In a statement, Hurriyat leaders - professor Abdul Ghani Bhat, Bilal Ghani Lone and Masroor Abbas Ansari - said the government of India had been issuing incessant antipeople orders at frequent intervals to intimidate and psychologically torture the people of J&K.
“APHC reiterates its principled stand of engagement and dialogue among stakeholders for resolution of the Kashmir dispute,” the statement said, the Union was attempting to undermine all attempts of pursuing a peaceful resolution to the Jammu and Kashmir issue.
The Centre first brought in the arbitrary ‘domicile law’ that gave residency rights to non-permanent residents, then amendments in The J&K Civil Services (Decentralisation and Recruitment) Act allowed allocation of jobs and education seats to outsiders, then laws allowing exploitation of our natural resources were passed, and now our land laws have been brazenly repealed to allow anyone from across India to own land in Jammu and Kashmir, they said.
“A law also allows the government to declare any local area as a ‘strategic area on the Army’s behest, which is alarming,” they said.
The statement has asked people to hold peaceful shutdown on Saturday to register their resentment against the laws and also demanded their immediate withdrawal.
PDP, Panthers Party protest new land laws
JAMMU: The BJP government’s new land reforms in Jammu and Kashmir have stirred the hornet’s’ nest in Jammu and Kashmir with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Panthers Party staging separate protests demanding repeal of the new land laws that have paved the way for people from outside Jammu and Kashmir to buy land in the Union Territory. A swarm of PDP supporters descended at the party office and later took out a protest rally led by former MLC and party general secretary Surinder Choudhary.