New Delhi: In response to the ongoing anti-encroachment drive in Jammu and Kashmir, former chief minister and president of the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (JKPDP) Mehbooba Mufti on Monday hit out at BJP, saying "If you'll go to Kashmir, you'll find it like Afghanistan because bulldozer is there."
Addressing a news conference, Mufti said, "BJP weaponised their brute majority to bulldoze constitution of the country, they've weaponised media to crush voice of dissent & judiciary as well."
"If you'll go to Kashmir, you'll find it like Afghanistan because bulldozer is there. They've (BJP) outsourced our jobs, lands & minerals. ED,NIA being used against journalist, politicians in country, we're still special status state as we've other agencies to harass people," Mufti added.
J&K administration in January started a demolition drive to retrieve government land illegally occupied by influential people.
In recent weeks, the administration has reclaimed thousands of acres of state land across the Union Territory (UT), while hundreds of structures built on the encroached territory have been dismantled. Former ministers, officials, and notable businessmen are among the encroachers from whom the land has been reclaimed.
Mufti stated that crooks and conmen are given 45,000-hectare land while the people of Kashmir are being driven out of their land on the pretext of an anti-encroachment drive.
She said, "Earlier we used to think that BJP has taken a cue from what Israel does with Palestine but now they have left it behind, they want to make J&K like Afghanistan."
"I compare it with Palestine because the BJP govt is like an 'East-India Company' in Kashmir, in the entire country...Palestine is still better, their people talk, here it's even worse, people's houses are being demolished by bulldozer," Mufti added.
Violent protests in response to the eviction drive broke out at multiple places in Jammu and Kashmir, with locals raising anti-BJP slogans and attacking earthmovers and cranes with stones to stop the drive.