It is for the second time that 80-year-old Abdul Razak and 75-year-old Khatoon Bi have been forced to leave their home in the last 30 years. The couple’s house in Jammu was among two dozen demolished in the Sidhra area by the J&K Police and Forest Department earlier this week, alleging that the structures were built on forest land.
Amid the scorching heat on Wednesday, a day after their house was demolished, the elderly couple could be found taking shelter from the sun under a large tree. The temperature went up to 43 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, nearly four degrees above the seasonal average.
Sitting in the shade under the tree, Razak remembered the first time the couple, originally from South Kashmir’s Kokernag, were rendered homeless — in mid-1997, when militants threatened to kill them for providing information to security forces.
“It was peak militancy in South Kashmir when an Army unit came to our village,” recalled Razak, with Khatoon Bi sitting right next to him. The Army unit stayed in a local school, and the next morning, they called the local residents. “A senior Army officer requested us to provide them information against militants in the area,” he said, adding that based on the information they provided, several militants were killed.
“During their stay, we worked for the security forces and even constructed bunkers for them, but when the area became militancy-free, the unit left,” he said. After this, militants returned to the village and burnt houses and also the school building where security forces had set up camp, Razak said. “When militants asked the villagers to disclose the names of the people who had helped security forces. Some of them gave our names.”
He recalled that the militants killed three people in the village, including his brother-in-law, spreading fear among the family and leading them to flee to Jammu.
Their latest displacement came on Tuesday, when personnel of the Forest Department and police demolished 25–30 houses belonging to people from the tribal Gujjar and Bakarwal communities, including theirs. This time, they’re not sure where to go. Currently, they are staying in makeshift tents erected on the same land where their houses were demolished.
Razak and Khatoon are registered migrants from Kashmir, getting free ration and monthly cash relief of Rs 3,250 per person. Their son-in-law, Manzoor Ahmad, his wife Zareena Begum, and their children Sameer and Afsana, are also registered Kashmiri migrants. Their house was also demolished on Tuesday.
While Razak said his migrants’ ration card issued by the Office of the Relief Commissioner was buried under the rubble of his house as officials allegedly did not give him time to bring everything out, Manzoor’s ration card, issued on April 1, 2026, mentions the family as “KM” under the “Special Reservation Category”.
The migration
In the years following the outbreak of militancy in Kashmir in 1989, nearly 40,000 Kashmiri Pandit families left their homes in the Valley and migrated to Jammu and other parts of the country. Following threats from militants, over 2,500 Muslim families also left the Valley. In Jammu, they were registered as migrants from Kashmir, just like Pandits.
Abdul Razak said, “We initially stayed in a rented accommodation in Bhatindi, and after some time, local people, moved by our plight, advised us to settle at the present site, which was an open area.”
Successive governments in Jammu and Kashmir provided them with electricity and water connections, among other basic amenities.
Protest, demolition
However, in recent years, trouble arose with right-wing groups and the BJP demanding that people “illegally” occupying the land be evicted. Just a few days before the Tuesday demolition, BJP MLA from the Bahu constituency, Vikram Randhawa, led a protest on May 13 on Sidhra road, demanding the immediate removal of encroachments on forest and state land in his constituency. Raising slogans, the protesters disrupted vehicular traffic on the road for nearly two hours and also warned of a major agitation if no action was taken in the matter.
Within a week, forest officials and police arrived with a JCB machine arrived at the forests near Mahamaya temple and demolished 25-30 houses, retrieving nearly 60 kanals of land.
Minister promises action
While Forest Department officials say the structures were illegally raised on demarcated forest land, J&K’s Forest and Tribal Affairs Minister Javed Rana has denied the claim, saying the people were staying on state land, not forest land.
While visiting the affected families after the demolition, Rana assured them of action against the officers responsible. Also asked Lt Governor Manoj Sinha to initiate action against police personnel involved in the demolition drive.
Later, the minister constituted a two-member fact-finding committee to inquire into the demolition of the houses and report on any violation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, which allows tribals to stay on forest land. The panel has been directed to submit its report in seven days.
Abdul Razak (80) and wife Khatoon Bi (75) now stay in a makeshift tent erected on the same land where their house was razed. (Express photo) 
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