By Muzaffar Raina
Jammu and Kashmir health minister Sakina Itoo has suggested a communal design behind the “bulldozer justice” being handed out to alleged drug peddlers by lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha’s administration, claiming the Valley was being disproportionately targeted despite Jammu reporting more cases.
The 100-day anti-drug campaign, Nasha Mukt Abhiyan, ends this week. Sinha has travelled extensively across the Union Territory to build momentum against drug use.
Between April 11 and May 5, the police arrested 518 alleged drug peddlers, registered 481 FIRs and attached or demolished 24 properties belonging to the accused and identified as “proceeds of crime”, the administration revealed recently.
It did not provide separate figures for the Jammu and Kashmir regions.
Itoo, a key minister in the Omar Abdullah government who holds the health and education portfolios, said Hindu-majority Jammu had more drug addicts than Muslim-majority Kashmir. She did not cite any figures, either.
“You tell me, are there more addicts in Jammu or Kashmir? As health minister, I can tell you the figures say Jammu has more numbers. But you are destroying homes in Kashmir, attaching properties of people,” she said.
“We fear that under the guise of the Nasha Mukt Abhiyan, the administration is demolishing houses and properties of people in Kashmir. Why isn’t there similar action in Jammu? The efforts and approach should not look discriminatory.”
Itoo appeared to suggest that the police action was directed at not just drug peddlers but also addicts.
This story was originally published in telegraphindia.com. Read the full story here.
