News Kashmir Exclusive
In the garb of humanity many believe that the Special status of Jammu and Kashmir is being diluted .
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In this regard, a lot of resentment has been generated on the proposed move of the government of India’s plans of building structures for “homeless” in J&K under its ‘National Urban Livelihood Mission’. All pro-freedom Parties and some mainstream voices are also against this move.
Pertinently, few time back it was learnt that the government is planning to ‘temporarily’ accommodate homeless people, both state as well as non-state subjects, in shelter homes to be build across J&K with first such dwellings to come up in Jammu and Kupwara districts.
The project for which a high-level meeting chaired by Governor NN Vohra was conducted in January this year is currently being executed in Jammu and Kupwara at a cost of Rs 1.96 crore and Rs 1.75 crore respectively
While talking to News Kashmir Magazine, BJP Srinagar District President Fayaz Bhat stated – “ It is a temporary arrangement for homeless people as it is nothing what we call the permanent settlement .We need to take a humanistic outlook on this issue. However, anything that impacts the article 370 and its related features should not be done.”
Commenting on this issue, AIP Supremo and MLA Langate Er Rasheed – “ This is a grave and issue of serious concern. I urge Government to come clean over reports of providing temporary shelter to non-state subjects and added that lakhs of such people are already here without any proper record or reason and we would like to warn the government that Kashmiris will not allow any such shelters for non-state subjects.”
Hurriyat (M) spokesperson government’s move to provide shelters to non- locals was fictitious as poor people do not stay on roads pavements or under bridges in Kashmir.
Hurriyat (M) spokesperson added there was no need to set up shelters for Kashmiris although people belonging to Kashmir keep on coming and going to different Indian states for different trades and businesses.
The J&K High Court Bar Association (HCBA) has also opposed the government decision to construct shelters for the non-locals under National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM), terming it another ‘conspiracy to change the J&K’s demography so as to reduce its Muslim majority character to minority’.
“The HCBA executive committee at its meeting held stated that the move shall affect and endanger the ongoing freedom struggle of people of Kashmir and their demand to give them their right of self-determination, therefore, the decision should be opposed tooth and nail by everyone,” a spokesman of Bar, in a statement said, adding that “The decision is a part of the sinister design by RSS-BJP combine of settling non-state subjects in and around Srinagar Airport, for which even land was identified.”
On nutshell paradigm, experts and analysts opine that the new government will be advised not to stoke yet another controversy in the name of providing shelter to non-locals as the fire of unrest that raged from the NIT controversy and Kupwara killings is yet to be doused fully .
