Hardline Hurriyat Conference faction leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Monday rejected any plan of the Government of India to permanently settle retired Indian army personnel or their children in Jammu and Kashmir.
Meanwhile, the BJP clarified that only those soldiers who are residents of Kashmir will be provided space in proposed Sainik colonies.
Geelani said: Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally accepted disputed territory and decision regarding its future is still pending, so settling or allotting of land to any army personnel or any citizen of India on this disputed land is a clear violation of international rules and it has no constitutional or moral justification.
Status of J&K is different from Bihar or UP. Issuing citizenship of this state to any Indian national is against constitution of this state and the Indian Government doesn’t have powers to amend the state constitution, he added.
He cautioned that allotting land to retired army personnel in Jammu and Kashmir will be a grave mistake on the part of the Government and it will have serious consequences.
The pro-freedom people will hit the road to protest against this move, Geelani said. If any piece of land is allotted to Indian army personnel in J&K we will launch a public movement against it.
Taking on the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed government on the issue, Geelani said the state government was yet to say anything about it.
Earlier addressing a press conference, the BJP leader and state spokesman Khalid Jehangir said the land will be allotted in proposed Sainik colonies to only those retired servicemen who are permanent residents of J&K.
All employees after retirement get housing facilities. In J&K also, army personnel belonging to the state who serve in Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (JKLI), deserve housing. So there is nothing wrong with the proposal, Jehangir said.
Early this month, BJP parliamentarian Tarun Vijay launched a campaign seeking settlement rights for soldiers who have served in J&K or to the families of those personnel who have died during counter-insurgency operations.
First of all, Vijay should look for a constituency and then fight elections from there and if at all he wins, then he should look after that constituency. He has no locus standi on Kashmir and he shouldn’t talk about J&K, NC spokesman Junaid Azim Mattu had said.
Source from India Defence News.
