JDA Causes Outrage by Demolishing Displaced Kashmiri Pandits’ Shops

INN/New Delhi, @Infodeaofficial

Twelve stores owned by displaced Kashmiri Pandits were demolished as part of a demolition campaign that the Jammu Development Authority (JDA) started on Wednesday close to the Muthi camp in Jammu city. According to officials, the stores were demolished as part of an anti-encroachment campaign after they were allegedly constructed on JDA property thirty years prior.

Numerous political parties and Kashmiri Pandit organisations have strongly criticised the decision, calling it unfair and calling for quick action to help the impacted shops get back on their feet.

Mehbooba Mufti, the president of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), condemned the demolition and urged Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to handle the situation with compassion on X, formerly Twitter. “Heartbreaking scenes show Kashmiri Pandit shopkeepers standing helplessly by the debris of their destroyed stores, which the JDA allegedly knocked down without warning. She shared a video of the distraught shopkeepers and wrote, “This act further deepens their sense of alienation and loss.”

G L Raina, a BJP spokesperson who visited the location and met with the impacted families, claimed that the action was motivated by a political grudge. “This clearly appears to be a retaliatory move shortly after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s NC-Congress government returned. These families should have had alternatives from the JDA,” he said, adding, “The government should cease focussing on this unfortunate community.”

Similar demands for the establishment of new stores to help the livelihoods of the displaced community were made by the Apni Party and a number of Kashmiri Pandit organisations. After the demolition, protests broke out at the location, with activists and impacted store owners demanding responsibility and punishment against the responsible officials.