Five held in Rajasthan as Kashmiris continue to face harassment inside India
Srinagar: In yet another instance of intimidation and harassment of Kashmiris outside their homeland, Indian police have arrested five men from Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir and detained three others in Rajasthan’s Kota district on the pretext of donation collection.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the latest detentions took place the other day when police from Bhimganj Mandi area picked up three men belonging to Poonch district, accusing them of collecting donations for madrassas. The trio was staying at a local guesthouse, where they were taken into custody and subjected to prolonged questioning.
Bhimganj Mandi Station House Officer Ramkishan Godara said police are “verifying” the purpose of their visit, even though no concrete evidence of wrongdoing has so far been established.
The detentions come only days after Kota police arrested two more Kashmiris, also residents of Poonch district, from the same guesthouse on January 24. The two men were later sent to jail on charges of allegedly disturbing public peace. The arrested individuals were questioned by a Joint Interrogation Committee, reflecting the heightened suspicion and profiling faced by Kashmiris across India.
Police claimed that document verification showed one of the arrested men was authorized to collect donations only in Madhya Pradesh, while the other was allegedly collecting funds for a madrassa that had closed last year. Both men, identified as Farooq and hailing from Surankot in Poonch, were nonetheless arrested despite the absence of any criminal activity.
