Srinagar: A dispute over the alleged illegal construction of a road on the outskirts of Jammu and Kashmir’s capital Srinagar led to an outbreak of fisticuffs and a war of words between the BJP and J&K Apni Party, prompting the police to file a first information report (FIR).

Aijaz Hussain Rather, the former national vice-president of the saffron party's youth wing Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM), was booked on Wednesday, May 30, by Jammu and Kashmir Police for allegedly assaulting two activists of Apni Party on the outskirts of Srinagar.

A senior police officer said that the victims have been identified as Nazim Hussain Bhat and Imdad Ali Mir, both residents of Balhama locality in Srinagar's outskirts, where the dispute over road construction has been simmering for the last month. The two are activists of the J&K Apni Party headed by Altaf Bukhari.

The Apni Party and the BJP are widely believed to be in a tactical alliance in Jammu and Kashmir, although their leaders have repeatedly denied such claims.

According to sources, the two Apni Party activists were issued notices by the J&K government earlier this month for allegedly misusing state agricultural land in Wani Mohalla of Balhama and “conversion of ‘Aabi Awal' (agricultural) land into non-agricultural land by way of earth-filling and construction of road.”

“Whereas the report submitted by the Patwari Halqa concerned reveals that you have been found in illegal conversion of ‘Aabi Awal’ land under Khasra No 407, 1039. 1024, 1023, 1020, 1038, 1037, 1040, 1041, 402, 401, 398, 1042,1043, 396, 397, 412, 411, 1018, 1003, 1001, 904, 1024, 1023 situated at estate Balhama locality,” the notices issued to Bhat and Mir, copies of which are in the possession of The Wire, read.

Speaking with The Wire, BJP leader Rather said that a team of officials led by commissioner/secretary of the rural development department Mandeep Kaur visited Balhama, his native place, on Tuesday as part of the administration’s public outreach programme.

“During the visit, some locals complained that the funds meant for developmental activities were used in the construction of a road which leads to the dairy farm owned by one of the accused,” Rather, who won the District Development Council elections in 2020 from Srinagar’s Khonmoh, said.

Khonmoh was one of the three seats that the saffron party managed to win from the Kashmir valley in the hotly contested DDC polls.

Aijaz claimed that when he tried to raise the issue with the Apni Party activists, their family members and friends attacked him. “It was only due to my personal security officers that I managed to escape from the area,” Rather claimed.

After the alleged attack, Rather said that he approached Pantha Chowk police station in Srinagar on Tuesday and filed a complaint against the two activists of the Apni Party.

However, the family members of Bhat and Mir, who have reportedly suffered injuries, staged a protest in Srinagar’s Press Enclave on Tuesday evening, alleging that they were attacked by Aijaz and his security detail in Sempora on the outskirts of Srinagar.

Raising slogans against the BJP leader, the family members said that Bhat received a phone call from Pantha Chowk police station on Tuesday, asking him to present himself before the investigators as Rather had filed a complaint against him.

“We were on the way to the police station when the BJP leader’s security officers obstructed our car by halting their vehicles in front and on the back. Some people carrying baseball bats got down from the vehicles, dragged Nazim out of the car and assaulted him,” said one of the family members.

The Apni Party leader and Srinagar mayor Junaid Mattu also came out on Twitter in support of the victims, alleging that a “reign of terror has been unleashed” by Rather, who joined the BJP in 2008 as district secretary of Yuva Morcha Srinagar.

Reacting to the allegations, Rather, the BJP leader and member of the Haj Committee of India, accused the Srinagar mayor of “being part of land mafia” who have grabbed properties of Kashmiri Pandits and state land.

He alleged that the family members of the victims were maligning his and his party’s name by levelling false allegations. “They are part of the land mafia which has grabbed hundreds of kanals of land in Balhama. Everything will be clear once the police completes its investigation,” he said.

Srinagar mayor Mattu could not be reached for comment despite The Wire sending him several text messages and repeatedly calling him. The story will be updated if and when he responds.

A senior police officer said that the victims’ families later approached the Pantha Chowk police station and after a preliminary inquiry, a First Information Report (no 51/2023) was filed under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) of Indian Penal Code was filed against Rather.

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