SRINAGAR: On Kargil Vijay Diwas, the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) launched the Veer Parivar Sahayata Yojana, an initiative aimed at providing free legal aid to defence personnel, veterans, and their families.The scheme was officially launched on Saturday at Shri Kashmir Convocation Centre on the banks of Dal Lake in Srinagar.Supreme Court judge and NALSA executive chairman Justice Surya Kant, who presided over the conference, stressed on the importance of ex-servicemen serving as nyay mitras (legal volunteers) and supporting fellow soldiers and their families. The scheme will operate through legal clinics. Ex-servicemen will address the legal challenges faced by defence families across the country.The conference was attended by Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha and CM Omar Abdullah.Sinha said the impact of “legislative reforms” initiated after the abrogation of Article 370 has transformed the region. “Before 2019, various central laws including two important central legislations — Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 — were not applicable to J&K,” he said, adding these are now applicable and tribal community has been empowered.The CM praised the contributions and sacrifices of defence personnel, many of whom hail from J&K, he said. Omar, who also holds law portfolio, stressed the urgent need for compassionate and timely legal redress to those serving in remote and challenging terrains.