From November 23, the Jammu and Kashmir government started publishing the names of beneficiaries under the now scrapped Jammu and Kashmir State Land (Vesting Ownership to the Occupants) Act, popularly known as the Roshni Act.
It created a political storm in Kashmir. The first list named four National Conference leaders, a former Peoples Democratic Party leader, two Congress leaders and a battery of Kashmiri Muslim ex-bureaucrats and businessmen. More lists would follow, naming Kashmir’s most prominent political families and senior leaders, especially those from the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration, a collective of mostly Kashmiri parties.
The Union Territory administration started pushing out beneficiary lists just days before Jammu and Kashmir went into elections to set up new district development councils, the third tier of local government. It is a triangular contest between the Gupkar Alliance, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the newly formed Apni Party….