A Hindu resident of Jammu has offered a plot of land to the Muslim journalist whose house was demolished by the authorities on Thursday, stepping forward with
a rare gesture of healing in a city where politics has driven a wedge between the communities.
The Jammu administration on Thursday bulldozed Arfaz Ahmad Daing’s home, which they said was built on encroached land. The city-based journalist had said he was being targeted for speaking truth to power.
There was a huge outpouring of support for Arfaz on Friday, with politicians of all hues, including former BJP chief Ravinder Raina, visiting the site of his demolished home to express solidarity.
Ordinary Jammu residents, cutting across religious lines, offered support to Arfaz in a rebuff to Right-wing social media users who praised the government for the action.
Videos of Kuldeep Sharma, who identified himself as a former soldier, and his young daughter Taniya took the Internet by storm as they came forward to gift their 5 marla (1,360 square feet) plot to the journalist.
Sharma broke down and said he could not sleep all night after seeing videos of the demolition on his mobile. “When I saw people happy over the demolition, I laughed at them. (In my heart), I told them that it can happen to anybody tomorrow, and you too can face a similar situation,” he told reporters, showing the documents of his plot.
He was also seen condemning people who try to divide people on communal lines.
“You (administration) have broken his home built on a three-marla plot. I am giving him five. Tomorrow, if you break his house on a five-marla plot, I will give him 10,” he said.
Sharma said he belonged to a lower-middle-class family and suggested he had planned to sell the plot to marry off his daughter. He said it was his younger daughter who told her not to let Arfaz’s family sleep in the open.
“If somebody comes tomorrow (with an offer of marriage for his daughters), I will tell them I am left with nothing as I have given things in charity,” he said.
Daughter Taniya said she was proud of her parents. "I feel lucky to have such parents. It is a proud moment for me that my parents have such great thinking. We are not landlords and belong to a lower-middle-class family,” she said.
Arfaz’s father was overwhelmed by the gesture and the outpouring of support.
“I am a rich man today. I have lost a home, but what I have gained is priceless… the people of Jammu — Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Muslims — have shown that people here have only one caste, which is humanity. We all have one blood. I am proud of the unity of Jammu and Kashmir, although some people try to sow discord,” he said.
“Yesterday I had tears of grief in my eyes, today I have tears of happiness,” he added.
Arfaz told The Telegraph that Sharma lived around 12km from his residence.
“He is not even my neighbour. I remember having only interviewed his son once. He is my Facebook friend,” he said. Arfaz’s family, including small children, spent the night under a tarpaulin sheet near the demolished home.
The demolition has triggered a war of words between chief minister Omar Abdullah and the BJP, with Omar calling it a conspiracy to malign his image. “The officers posted by the Raj Bhavan use bulldozers independently, without the elected government’s permission and without consulting the minister concerned. It indicates a clear conspiracy to tarnish the image of the elected government,” Omar told reporters.
Omar said lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha was posting officers without consulting the elected government. “The revenue staff should be posted with our permission. Regrettably, officers are assigned to these posts without any discussion with us. Those officers take dictation from somewhere else, take out bulldozers and start the action,” he said.
“Is there only this single place in Jammu where allegations of encroachment have been levelled?... I also want to see why the authorities targeted this person and if his religion is the reason for that. Because it can’t be that there is merely a single allegation of encroachment across all JDA (Jammu Development Authority) land,” Omar said.
He said no one supported illegal encroachments, but “these people who use the bulldozer in a pick-and-choose manner to malign the elected government need to mend their ways”.
BJP leader Raina, who visited Arfaz’s home, earlier claimed the LG office had no role in the demolition.