The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Saturday witnessed protests against the purported allotment of land for free to a former Sri Lankan cricketer in Kathua district of Jammu.
The issue was flagged by CPM veteran Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, who demanded an enquiry. Congress legislator Ghulam Ahmad Mir asked how a non-Indian was gifted land without any payment.
Both legislators did not reveal the identity of the former cricketer. Rural development minister Javid Ahmed Dar feigned ignorance about the issue.
AAP MLA Mehraj Malik said it was ironic that land from the natives of Jammu and Kashmir was snatched and given to outsiders. “Today, we have an elected government. It is time to expose people who brought outsiders and gave them land here,” he said.
Kashmiri politicians have always fiercely opposed investments by outsiders in the UT over fears that it might help Delhi change the place’s demography. They are also against any sale of land to outsiders.
In 2023, lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha performed a ceremony for the first foreign direct investment in the region after the 2019 scrapping of the special status. The event was related to ₹250 crore investment by Dubai-based Emaar group, the makers of Burj Khalifa.
Tarigami on Saturday said there were reports that a former Sri Lankan cricketer was given land in Kathua “without any compensation”.
“If it is true, the government should clarify. It should take the House in confidence and discuss the issue,” he told the media outside the Assembly. Congress leader Mir said it was a “serious concern” that land had been allotted to a “non-Indian”. “That too without any compensation. There should be a discussion,” he said.
While legislators were tight-lipped about the identity of the player, there were reports that a former Sri Lankan cricketer had been allotted 10.4 hectares in Kathua to set up an aluminium can manufacturing and beverage filling unit with an investment of ₹1,600 crore.