Jammu BJP leaders criticise LG’s demolition of houses in anti-drug drive
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Nearly six weeks after the launch of the 100-day “Nasha Mukt Jammu and Kashmir” campaign, about two dozen former municipal councillors associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party, including former Jammu mayor Rajinder Sharma, criticised the demolition of houses belonging to alleged drug traffickers, describing the exercise as selective.
They argued that if the homes of suspected drug peddlers were being demolished, then similar action should also be taken against politicians, officials and police personnel accused of supporting or facilitating the drug trade.
The anti-drug campaign, launched on April 11 by Manoj Sinha, has so far resulted in the demolition of 81 houses and other immovable properties linked to alleged drug smugglers and peddlers across Jammu and Kashmir, Indian Express reported.
Leaders from the ruling Jammu & Kashmir National Conference, the Indian National Congress and the opposition People's Democratic Party have condemned the demolitions as selective, extra-judicial and as a form of collective punishment imposed on families for the alleged crimes of individual members.
During a protest held near the Tawi bridge under the statue of Maharaja Hari Singh, the former BJP councillors raised slogans demanding that police personnel allegedly linked to the drug network also be exposed.
Rajinder Sharma said that while the councillors supported the Lieutenant Governor’s initiative against drug traffickers, authorities should also demolish the properties of officials and police personnel accused of protecting or enabling narcotics operations if the administration genuinely intended to dismantle the narco-terror network in the Union Territory.
He further claimed that close to one lakh people had died due to drug consumption in Jammu and Kashmir, adding that the figure exceeded the combined number of deaths, including Army personnel, in the wars with Pakistan in 1965, 1971 and
Sharma also referred to a 2023 report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment, which estimated that more than 13.5 lakh people in Jammu and Kashmir were addicted to various substances, including around 95,000 opioid users. He argued that the scale of the crisis required stronger measures beyond the current campaign.
He additionally called for those allegedly responsible for facilitating the sale of drugs worth over ₹25,000 crore to be exposed.
Sharma urged authorities to keep arrested suspects in high-security custody, expressing fears that they could be killed in order to destroy evidence against influential figures allegedly connected to the network. He also demanded that the trials of accused drug traffickers be broadcast live.