Muslim bodies protest against ‘Biased’ encroachment drive in Jammu

People under the banner of three Muslim bodies today staged a protest outside Jamia Masjid at Talab Khatikan here against a “biased” anti-encroachment drive and demolition of a religious school.
The protest was jointly staged by Jammu Muslim Front, Jammu Muslim Youth and Muslim Development Forum against yesterday’s anti-encroachment drive by Jammu Development Authority (JDA) in Gole Gujral area of the city.
“We are not against the anti-encroachment drive but fail to understand why the drive is restricted to Muslim dominated areas only,” an activist told PTI.
The drive was motivated and carried out with the intention of harassing the community, he alleged, adding that demolition of the religious school by the anti-encroachment team hurt the sentiments of the Muslims.
JDA officials alleged that Gujjars have encroached on various prime lands at several places in Jammu city and later created illegal colonies to sell the plots.
They said Gujjars had encroached on plots of JDA colonies and illegally built structures there. The Jammu and Kashmir High Court had pulled up the JDA last month for delay in removal of the encroachments on over thousands of acres of land in Jammu.