Security forces allegedly blew up and demolished the residential houses of two local militants in south Kashmir during the intervening night, hours after a police head constable was killed in a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said such actions “will not restore peace”.
The demolitions began on Wednesday night with the house of Lashkar-e-Taiba member Adil Ahmad Thoker’s family in Bijbehara, Anantnag. Another house demolished was that of Haroon Ganai’s family.
The locals said the houses were “demolished using explosives”.
Police head constable Ashiq Hussain Qureshi, a resident of Budgam in Central Kashmir, was shot dead in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on, prompting a massive security operation and a Valley-wide crackdown on suspected terror networks. Nearly 2,000 suspected Over Ground Workers (OGWs) have been detained in several districts for questioning in the major crackdown.
After the Pahalgam terror attack in April last year, at least nine houses belonging to the terrorists were demolished.
The demolition of houses has triggered widespread condemnation from Kashmir politicians including Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
Omar cautioned against summary ‘punitive actions’, including demolitions and mass arrests, saying such measures would aggravate the situation rather than help restore peace.
He said such demolitions go against the Supreme Court directions.
“I understand the anger of the police. But the Supreme Court has given an order that this type of summary action should not be taken,” he told reporters.
Drawing parallels with the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack, Omar recalled that some houses were bulldozed before the process was halted following his intervention with the Central government.
“We saw the exact same situation after the Pahalgam attack, when some people’s houses were bulldozed. I had to talk to the Central government and stop this process. When the enquiry took place, it was found that none of the locals were involved in the attack. All the attackers had come from outside,” he said.
Omar argued that demolishing houses or carrying out large-scale arrests would not improve the security situation.
“So here, demolishing houses or arresting thousands of people will not improve the situation. On the contrary, the situation will get worse,” he said.
Recalling his tenure when Jammu and Kashmir was a state, Omar said security forces alone could not bring a lasting end to militancy without public support.
“I had run Jammu and Kashmir state for six years. We were a state at that time. The police command was in our hands. We knew that without the support of the people, this process would not end,” he said.
Commenting on the killing of head constable, Omar said people were outraged over the incident, but warned that indiscriminate arrests could shift public sentiment.
The chief minister expressed hope that the administration would carry the people along in tackling the security situation.
“I hope that we can take our people with us in this fight. Only then will we achieve success,” he added.
Former Chief Minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti termed large scale detentions and house demolitions collective punishment that has no place in a democracy.
“The killing of a police officer in the line of duty is a heinous & condemnable act. But detaining over a thousand people and demolishing the homes of families of two alleged militants amounts to collective punishment that has no place in a democracy,” she said on X. “ If the Government of India itself maintains that militancy has been reduced to near zero it must adopt a more humane and lawful approach towards innocent civilians instead of resorting to tit for tat for an entire community .”
Srinagar Member Parliament Ruhullah Mehdi said the Supreme Court has held punitive demolition without due process unconstitutional.
“One gunman killed a Kashmiri policeman. So the state has detained 2,500 Kashmiris. We are watching 2,500 young men picked up in 24 hours under a phrase, “detained for questioning”, that appears in no statute and carries no safeguard. And in the night, two homes were blown up. One of them had been demolished last year, rebuilt, and lived in for barely a few months. The Supreme Court has held punitive demolition without due process unconstitutional,” he said on X.
