Webstory Desk
Jammu and Kashmir National Conference vice president and Former chief minister Omar Abdullah Thursday said that land holders have a right to renew the lease and should have the first right to refusal.
While reacting to the government’s latest order asking land-lease holders in Jammu and Kashmir to return the possession to the government, the former CM said what is the need to take away land from the people and ask them to vacate.
“The law of natural justice is that you give lease holders the right to renew the lease. They should have the first right to refusal. Let the government decide the rates, and if they cannot deposit such amounts, or refuse to, then you give the land to others,” he said.
Abdullah said the land holders should have the first right because they took care of the land, made investments there and ran the properties for years.
“Let LG do that, then I will have no complaints. But, the order to handover the land to the government, clearly shows that it is an attempt to take away land from the people here and hand that over to outsiders,” he said.
While answering a query regarding the statement of MEA S Jaishankar, Omar Abdullah said that his party wants India to have good relations with its neighboring countries including China and Pakistan.
Abdullah while speaking to media persons here at south Kashmir said that while his party has always backed a cordial relationship with all the neighbors of India, it is also the duty of Pakistan to maintain good ties with the country.
The statement came after EAM S Jaishankar gave a befitting reply to Pakistan in the United Nations Security Council on the topic of terrorism.
The former J&K chief minister said his party has been saying right from the first day that whatever happened on August 5, 2019 was wrong.
“That was a deception with J&K. The promises made with us had no time limits. Nowhere was it written that it was for 10 years or 20 or 30. It is clearly mentioned there that till J&K is a part of India, J&K will have this special provision. But they snatched it from us illegally, unconstitutionally. We are fighting for its restoration,” he said.
