Muzaffarabad (POJK): Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) has been angered by a recent decision of the Pakistan government that highlighted the tactics of Islamabad to loot the resources of Jammu and Kashmir.
The anger is over Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s recent decision to constitute a 7-member committee, headed by Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, “to work out modalities for the utilization/disposal of Jammu and Kashmir State Property”.
JKLF, which is based in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK), said the Pakistan government has already been selling off huge parcels of land belonging to the ‘State of Kashmir’ and the latest move is another step in that direction.
“A committee has been established to sell the Kashmir property worth billions in different cities of Pakistan since the Maharaja period instead of handing it over to the ‘Azad Kashmir’ government,” commented Kifayat Shaheen Abbasi, a leader of JKLF based in Muzaffarabad, the capital of POJK.
Terming it as a “big” hit for the Kashmiris by the Sharif government, he said, “the federal government has no authority to sell Kashmir’s properties.”
He said the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs under the Pakistan Government has sold 468 kanals of urban and 452 acres of agricultural land of Kashmir State property worth billions of rupees located in Pakistan.
Citing a report by a senior Journalist of POJK a few years ago, Abbasi mentioned an evil design of the Pakistan government.
Under the ‘Administering of Kashmir Property Ordinance 1961’, the management and control of the State property of the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir was transferred from the ‘Azad Kashmir’ government to the Federal Ministry of Kashmir Affairs, he said.
The administration of this State property is being handled through the office of the Jammu Kashmir State Property Administrator located in Lahore, Ministry of Kashmir Affairs, the JKLF leader noted.
According to the Administrator Jammu and Kashmir State Property Lahore, after Independence in 1947, the properties of the State of Jammu and Kashmir (or Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir or Maharaja of Poonch), which were located outside the territorial limits of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, were taken over by the Independent Government of the State of Jammu and Kashmir which appointed manager for property establishment.
The Punjab government considered this Kashmir property as abandoned property.
According to the Administrator’s Office, due to legal and administrative difficulties, the government of Azad Kashmir requested the government of Pakistan in June 1955 to take over the management of Kashmir property.
Thus, from August 15, 1947, the properties of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the Maharaja of Kashmir and the Maharaja of Poonch in Pakistan were brought under the administration of the Government of Pakistan.
The Ministry of Kashmir Affairs appointed an administrator office in Lahore, along with necessary staff, equipment, transport, and the administrator has been further strengthened by hiring a qualified professional manager for the management of Kashmir state property, he said.
Most of the Kashmir State property is located in Punjab and some in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Abbasi said.
The total urban state property of the state of Jammu and Kashmir in Pakistan was 1048 kanals of which 468 kanals have been sold and now 580 kanals of property remain.
Similarly, the total agricultural land of Kashmir State Property was about 2426 acres out of which 462 acres were sold and now 1974 acres are remaining.
Out of these 35 properties of Kashmir State Property, 14 properties have been sold to approved persons since 1961 through permission based on letters from the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs.
“What is the value of properties sold by Kashmir State Property? To whom and how much? There are no details about this,” the JKLF leader said.
Surprisingly, the Azad Kashmir government does not have any details of Kashmir state property located in Pakistan.
The income of the Office of the Administrator Kashmir State Property Lahore in the financial year 2004-5 was about Rs.6 crores of which Rs.3 crores was declared as expenditure.
It should be noted that these properties related to this Kashmir State property have been given on nominal rent.
The purpose of the Administering of Kashmir Property Ordinance 1961 is to provide good management of Kashmir state property in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa until the final decision of the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Thus, this series of sale of Kashmir state property by the Ministry of Kashmir affairs is a complete violation of the mandate and damage to the national and state treasury, and falls under the category of corruption and nepotism.
Regarding the Kashmir state property, it is also surprising that its income does not go to the treasury of Azad Kashmir or Pakistan, but only at the discretion of the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs.
Whereas, under the Interim Constitution of 1974 approved by the Government of Pakistan for Azad Kashmir, the subject of Kashmir State property in Pakistan has been given to the Kashmir Council.
Thus, the Administrative of Kashmir Property Ordinance of 1961 should be repealed due to the assignment of the subject of Kashmir state property located in Pakistan to the Kashmir Council in the interim constitution of Azad Kashmir in 1974 (the Prime Minister of Pakistan is also the head of the Kashmir Council).
“The Federal Ministry of Kashmir has sold almost half of the Kashmir state property while taking care of the Jammu and Kashmir state property and there is a danger that if this process is not stopped and attention is not paid to the security and maintenance of the Kashmir property, it will be used as political favors. But all properties of Kashmir State Property will be sold,” he said.
Of the total 1048 kanals of Kashmir state property, only 580 kanals of urban property and 1974 acres of rural land of 2426 acres are left.
Azad Kashmir government does not have any details of Kashmir state property.
There has been a continuous demand of the governments in Azad Kashmir that the management of the Kashmir state property should be returned to the Azad Kashmir government. The management of the Kashmir state property has been with the Azad Kashmir government from 1947 to 1955.
