Separatists, National Conference warn of stir on ‘Sainik Colonies’

Kashmiri separatists have threatened a mass agitation if state land is allotted for setting up residential colonies for armed forces personnel in Srinagar or elsewhere in the Kashmir Valley, asserting any such move would be seen as a deliberate attempt on the part of the government to change the demography of the State.

The mainstream opposition National Conference (NC) and some other regional political groups too have publicly opposed the proposition. “Sainik Colony could be a ruse to settle non-state subjects in Kashmir and hence will bypass Article 370,” said former CM and NC working president Omar Abdullah.

The Jammu and Kashmir authorities had — while moving on a proposal fast-tracked when the state was under Governor’s Rule earlier this year — asked the concerned officials to identify land in Srinagar and neighbouring Budgam district for Sainik colonies to house troops and their families. Earlier, in April 2015, the Rajya Sainik Board (RSB), headed by governor N.N. Vohra, had approved establishment of a sainik colony close to Srinagar’s old airport, and subsequently 21.6 acres of land were identified for it and the proposal was sent to then CM Mufti Muhammad Sayeed for approval.

In August last year, the board, however, sent a second note to the state home department seeking more land as 26 senior officers, 125 junior commissioned officers and over 900 soldiers had applied for plots of land in the proposed colony and this required a total of 44 acres. The home department sent letters to the deputy commissioners of Srinagar and Budgam asking them to “furnish requisite information” regarding the allotment of land “at the earliest”.

The idea of setting up Sainik Colonies in Srinagar and elsewhere had actually been mooted by BJP Rajya Sabha member Tarun Vijay in May last year to accommodate soldiers and the families of those killed in the line of duty. Later defence minister Manohar Parrikar told Parliament that since allotting land was a state subject, the matter has been forwarded to the J&K government.

The separatists have said they are going to fight tooth and nail the proposal to establish Sainik Colonies in Kashmir. “It would be tantamount to killing the Kashmiri nation. Hence resist or breathe your last,” said Syed Ali Shah Geelani in a statement here on Saturday. He added that any carelessness on this sensitive issue “will prove a final nail in the coffin of our existence, identity and our freedom struggle and we will become strangers in our own land”. He asserted that there is no legal or moral justification in settling ex-servicemen in “disputed territory” after leaving aside the 29 states of India.

NC working president Omar Abdullah said the PDP-BJP government’s “glaring contradictions” on the Sainik Colony proposal had given rise to apprehensions about their underlying political motive. “From denying that land is being provided to the ‘Sainik Colony’ to the administration officially writing to concerned officers to identify land for the colony, the PDP-BJP government of Mehbooba Mufti has come full circle. Considering their track record... people have serious apprehensions, and rightly so,” he said, adding the CM continues to be vague about issue. “Is the Mehbooba Mufti government trying to re-enact the 2008 turmoil where a PDP government set the state on fire in violating the state’s special status by giving away hundreds of canals of land to the Amarnath shrine board in violation of legal norms, Article 370 and various inviolable constitutional provisions,” he asked, adding, “There seems to be an uncanny similarity between what PDP did in 2008 and what the PDP-BJP government is trying to do today with the Sainik Colony proposal.”