Mehbooba Mufti writes to L-G to seek release of ‘innocents’
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday, once again, raised concerns amid reports of the police and other law enforcement agencies in their tough counter-terrorism campaign following the Pahalgam terror attack allegedly targetting civilians. He called for a cautious and restrained approach from the concerned authorities in response to the April 22 gory incident.
He told reporters here, “We all understand the situation here, we cannot ignore it or refuse its existence, but we must look into it so that we don't affect the innocent people of Jammu & Kashmir in our efforts to catch those who were involved in the Pahalgam attack”. He added, “In the effort to get hold of those responsible for the Pahalgam incident, innocent people must not suffer. It should not look like that to catch a few perpetrators we are arresting all people of Kashmir. We need to be careful and take steps logically. We have conveyed this concern of ours where we can.”
In the past two weeks, the police have detained 2,500 to 2,800 people, mainly former militants, alleged overground workers of various militant outfits, members of separatist groups and other “potential troublemakers” for questioning or placed them in preventive custody. Scores of the detained have formally been booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA) and other tough laws.
During the search operations across the Kashmir Valley and parts of the Jammu region, the police and other security have raided hundreds of homes including of those allegedly involved in militancy-related incidents, demolished the family houses of, at least, ten wanted terrorists and combed forested areas. Various political parties including ruling National Conference (NC) and opposition People’s Democratic party (PDP) and many locals see it as “collective punishment.”
Former chief minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday flashed a letter to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha seeking his intervention in putting an end to the policy of arrests and punitive measures and ensuring the release of innocents.
“The response from various security agencies that has followed appears less like a focused investigation and more like a sweeping and indiscriminate crackdown. Over 3,000 arrests and nearly 100 Public Safety Act (PSA) detentions have been reported,” she said in the letter. She asserted that such numbers were alarming and did not reflect justice but rather a collective form of punishment.
“This approach not only risks alienating families and communities but also begs the question: where will all this lead us to? While we are all unequivocally in favour of justice, the actions currently being undertaken amount to mass retribution,” she said, adding, “No democratic and responsible society can or should accept such treatment of its own people”.
The former chief minister said the nation is grieving the tragic and cowardly terror attack in Pahalgam and this heinous act has been widely condemned across the country, more so by the people of Kashmir. She said that she has long maintained that the people of Kashmir have extended a hand of goodwill and that it is now for the rest of the nation to respond in kind. “It is deeply disheartening that the actions of a few terrorists are now determining how security agencies respond to the situation and go on a spree of arrests of innocent civilians,” she said.
