Omar Abdullah laments 'What did Kashmiris do wrong?', slams Centre's new land laws for J&K

Lashing out against the Centre's new land laws for Jammu-Kashmir, former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, on Thursday, asked what did Kashmiris do wrong for their land to be freely available for sale. Pointing out that several states like Himachal, Nagaland, Lakshadweep had stricter land laws, he said no Indian can buy land freely in those states. Protesting against the new land laws, he said those raising against the Centre were labelled 'anti-national'. The Centre had abrogated Article 370 & Article 35 A which defined the permanent residents of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, on 5 August 2019.

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Omar: 'What did Kashmiris do wrong?'

"Those in Delhi, who claim that they did those things on August 5 to integrate Jammu-Kashmir with India, are still doing injustice to us. There are stronger land laws in other states than the new land laws made in J&K. Even today, a citizen of this country cannot buy land freely in Himachal, Lakshadweep, Nagaland to name a few. We don't know what is the fault of Kashmiris that blindly it has been allowed to buy land in J&K freely," said Abdullah at a Srinagar public meeting.

He added, "If we speak against it, we are called anti-national. What we are speaking against a law this very land. That what was snatched from us on August 5, was not part of any other state's law," while welcoming former PDP leader Saifuddin Bhat in the party.

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Centre notifies new land laws

On Tuesday, Centre notified that Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act, 2016 will apply in Jammu and Kashmir with immediate effect, enabling citizens of India to buy land in the newly-carved Union territory. The Act makes it mandatory for each state and Union Territory to set up its own real estate regulator and frame rules to govern the functioning of the regulator. The MHA also repealed 12 of 26 J&K's state laws including - The Jammu and Kashmir Alienation of Land Act, Jammu and Kashmir Big Landed Estates Abolition Act, Jammu and Kashmir Common Lands (Regulation) Act 1956, Jammu and Kashmir Consolidation of Holdings Act 1962, Jammu and Kashmir Right of Prior Purchase Act, Jammu and Kashmir Utilization of Lands Act.

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On April 4, the Centre issued a gazette notification defining the domicile of the newly bifurcated Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir. It states that a domicile of J&K is one 'who has resided for 15 years in J&K, or has studied for 7 years and appeared in Class 10/12 exam in J&K, or is registered as migrant by the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner.' The order also includes 'children of government employees who have served in Jammu and Kashmir for a total period of ten years or children of parents who fulfil any of the conditions in sections'. Since then, the Centre has included several more categories - which allowed over 18.52 lakh domicile certificates (DCs) to be issued till September.

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