3 min readJammuUpdated: May 26, 2026 06:45 PM IST
Nearly one and a half months after the launch of the 100-day campaign for a “Nasha Mukt (drug-free) Jammu and Kashmir”, around two dozen former municipal councillors owing allegiance to the BJP, including former Jammu mayor Rajinder Sharma, criticised the ongoing demolition of alleged drug pedlars’ houses as “one-sided action” and demanded that if their houses are razed, the houses of politicians, officials and police personnel who aided them should also be demolished.
The anti-drugs campaign launched by J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on April 11 has led to the demolition of 81 houses and other immovable properties belonging to alleged drug pedlars and smugglers across the Union Territory.
The ruling National Conference and Congress leaders, as well as Opposition PDP, have criticised the demolitions as “selective”, “extra-judicial” and “punishment” to the entire family for the alleged crimes of individuals.
The former BJP councillors on Monday held a demonstration under the statue of Maharaja Hari Singh, near the Tawi bridge and raised slogans like “police personnel ko expose karo (expose police personnel)”.
“While we appreciate the initiative taken by the Lt Governor against drug pedlars and smugglers, the houses and other property of those in the administration and police who patronised them and facilitated the sale of narcotics shall also be demolished if we are really interested in completely wiping out the narco-terror network in the UT,” said ex-mayor Rajinder Sharma.
Pointing out that nearly 1 lakh people have so far died due to the consumption of drugs in Jammu and Kashmir, he said that this figure is much higher than the combined number of people, including Army personnel, who died in all the wars with Pakistan in 1965, 1971 and 1999.
“We appreciate the ongoing initiative taken by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha in dismantling the narco-terror network, but much bigger steps are needed to be take in view of the menace having taken alarming proportions,” Sharma said, pointing to a 2023 report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment that more than 13.5 lakh people in J&K are currently addicted to various substances, including nearly 95,000 opioid users.
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Emphasising the need to expose those behind the sale of drugs worth over Rs 25,000 crore, Sharma demanded that those arrested during the drive should be “kept in custody in a high-security zone” as “we fear that they may be killed to erase evidence” against those who patronised them. He also demanded that the trial of these drug pedlars be telecast live.
