Srinagar, Oct 06: Hours after authorities demolished an illegal shed on flood land in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) leader and MLA Langate Sheikh Khurshid on Tuesday alleged that the government was applying different yardsticks in its anti-encroachment drive, saying the poor were being targeted while the powerful were spared.
Encroachment is encroachment, whether the person involved is a relative of Afzal Guru, a sitting Governor or a BJP MLA. The same law must apply to everyone, MLA Khurshid said in a post on X.
The MLA claimed that no action had been taken in cases of alleged encroachment involving the powerful, citing “Khasra No 1187 encroached by Kavinder Gupta” and “Khasra No 211 encroached by BJP MLA Vikram Randhawa running an illegal crusher.”
The matter cannot be treated differently because of who is involved, he said.
Alleging that poor and vulnerable Kashmiris were repeatedly made the easiest targets of demolition drives while allegations involving the powerful appeared to move at a very different pace, MLA Khurshid said the government cannot have “different yardsticks for the poor and the powerful.
Raising the matter of an inquiry assured by the Chief Minister on the floor of the House, he asked, Eight months have passed. Where is that inquiry? What has it found? Why has his government remained silent?
The statement came hours after the administration in Baramulla claimed to have demolished an illegal shed built on flood land, saying the structure was occupied by the family of Mohammed Afzal Guru, who was convicted in the 2001 Indian Parliament attack case and hanged in 2013.
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