Srinagar
In occupied Kashmir, the veteran Hurriyat leader, Syed Ali Gilani, has expressed serious concern over India’s plans to grab the Kashmiris’ lands and hand them over to the Indian forces to use them for construction of new camps on the Israeli pattern.
Syed Ali Gilani in a tweet said, “The recent amendment to the Control of Building Operations Act, 1988 and the J&K Development Act 1970 through which land grab for the occupational forces is sought to be facilitated, is a tactic straight out of the Israeli occupation play book. Is the UNMOGIP awake?”
The amendments allow the authorities to notify any areas in the territory as “strategic areas”. This means that the land on which existing camps/ cantonments of the Indian armed forces are located in various areas or where the construction of new camps/ cantonments is intended can be notified as strategic areas. An entire area can now be designated as strategic area which can be taken over and developed for the use of armed forces and their families.—KMS
