Pol parties tell govt to be cautious as 3 more houses razed

Srinagar: Authorities here have demolished the houses of three alleged active terrorists in Bandipora, Pulwama and Shopian districts of Jammu and Kashmir as security forces continued their crackdown on the terror ecosystem following the Pahalgam terror attack.

With this, nine houses of suspected terrorists and overground workers of terror outfits have been razed so far since the April 22 attack in the lush meadows of Baisaran that killed 26 people and left the nation grief-stricken and fuming. As part of the anti-terror crackdown that picked up more steam after the Pahalgam tragedy, security forces have raided more than 500 locations in the Valley in just five days and grilled hundreds of suspects. Political parties have urged the Centre to ensure that innocent people are not targeted while it goes after terrorists.

Carrying on with the targeted demolition drive, authorities pulled down the house of Adnan Shafi at Wandina in Shopian district on Saturday night, officials said and claimed that Shafi had joined terrorist ranks last year. The house of another suspected active terrorist Amir Nazir was pulled down in Pulwama district, they said.

In Bandipora district, the house of suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist, Jameel Ahmad Shergojri, was razed. Officials said Shergojri has been an active terrorist since 2016.

With security agencies launching a massive operation against the terror ecosystem active in Jammu and Kashmir, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said the Centre should proceed carefully and avoid alienating innocent people while hunting down terrorists.

“The Indian government must tread with caution and carefully distinguish between terrorists and civilians following the recent Pahalgam attack. It must not alienate innocent people, especially those opposing terror,” she said in a post on X.

The former chief minister alleged there were reports of “thousands being arrested and scores of houses of common Kashmiris being demolished along with those of militants”.

“I appeal to the government to direct the authorities to take care that innocent people are not made to bear the brunt as alienation aids terrorists’ goals of division and fear,” she added.

Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also asked the Centre not to punish innocent Kashmiris in its quest for justice for the victims of the terror attack. “While the Kashmiris collectively condemn the heinous crime at Pahalgam, and it is imperative to bring its perpetrators to justice, indiscriminate arrests and videos of houses and neighbourhoods being demolished circulating on social media are disturbing and distressing.

“I urge the authorities that in seeking justice for the innocent victims do not punish innocent Kashmiri families,” he said on X.

People’s Conference leader Sajad Lone said those handling law and order should not do anything that can reverse the mindset that has changed after the Pahalgam attack. “The mass protests against the Pahalgam killings was a rare occurrence, a first of its kind in the last 78 years... This is a monumental shift, a milestone, but fragile at the same time.”

“I hope that those in charge of law and order do understand the significance of the shift and don’t do anything erroneously which impedes the shift or facilitates a return to the earlier mindset,” he wrote on X.

The former minister said there was a general feeling across the Valley that the whole family was being punished for the actions of one person. “We approached the court also and termed it a form of collective punishment, inspired by the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, where the British were convinced of criminality and attributed it to ancestry.”