JAMMU/SRINAGAR: Demolition of journalist Arafaz Ahmad Daing’s home in Jammu by Jammu Development Authority (JDA) has triggered a political confrontation, with deputy CM Surinder Choudhary demanding to know who ordered the action and urging LG Manoj Sinha to order an inquiry.Choudhary visited Saturday the demolished structure at Narwal and said neither the elected government nor CM Omar Abdullah ordered the step. “The JDA vice chairman is posted by the LG, and police involved also report to the LG. If this action did not happen on your orders, then order an inquiry and suspend the officials responsible,” he told reporters.The house was leveled Thursday morning by JDA teams accompanied by a large police contingent. Daing said his father built the structure 40 years ago and the family had lived there ever since. His counsel, lawyer Sheikh Shakeel Ahmad, alleged the demolition was “selective targeting” executed by JDA vice chairman with support from district authorities.Former J&K BJP president Ravinder Raina visited the site Friday and expressed solidarity with the family. He said he spoke to Sinha and claimed the latter told him “the LG administration did not use bulldozers. So where did this action come from? I don’t want to politicise this”.Choudhary accused Raina of lying. “Ask him to show his call records and prove he actually spoke to the LG,” he said. He praised neighbor Kuldeep Sharma, who offered land to Daing’s family, calling it “a powerful example of the brotherhood that defines J&K”.Omar accused Raj Bhavan–posted officers of carrying out “selective demolitions” to allegedly undermine the elected govt. “Development authorities, revenue officials — these should be our officers. Instead, officers are being posted without consulting us, and they take dictation from somewhere, use bulldozers,” he alleged.Choudhary said Omar “never supported actions driven by revenge”. “If officials acted on their own without consulting the LG or the CM, they should be placed under suspension,” he said, adding J&K govt backs moves to retrieve encroached land but insisted action “must not be selective” and should begin with “influential land grabbers, not the poor”.
