Australian journalist, author and activist against Islamophobia CJ Werleman on Wednesday lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government after the Centre allowed people from outside Jammu and Kashmir to buy land in the union territory by amending several laws, over a year after the nullification of Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution.
The Home Ministry had notified the new laws in the official gazette on Monday to repeal the J&K Land Laws to strip permanent residents of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh of the exclusive right to acquire and hold immovable property in the erstwhile state. The Centre omitted the phrase "permanent resident of the state" from Section 17 of the Jammu and Kashmir Development Act that deals with disposal of the land in the union territory.
Werleman, who has multiple times tweeted about the “atrocities” on Kashmiri Muslims, said that Kashmir does not belong to India. He wrote, "India has no right to allow non-Kashmiris to buy land in Kashmir for the simple reason Kashmir does not belong to India."
Meanwhile, Twitter users brutally trolled Werleman for this tweet. "Who are you? Mind your own business and don’t poke your nose in India’s internal matters. Kashmir was, Kashmir is, Kashmir will always belong to India and only India. And that includes illegally occupied PoK," a Twitter user wrote.
"Just for this tweet , I shall buy a piece of land. Kashmir is an absolute integral part of our India. Also I was the 1st to acknowledge the government was wrong wrt denying our #Kashmir fellow citizens their rights. I fought in SC for this . But Kashmir is a part of India (sic)," tweeted Tehseen Poonawalla.
Here are a few Twitter reactions:
Meanwhile, Werleman wasn't always an "activist against Islamophobia". According to one of his Facebook posts, he was "an anti-Muslim bigot". "Maybe even an unconscious racist," he had added.
