IIOJK politicians condemn repeated summoning, detention of Kashmiri youth
Say crackdown ahead of major events is creating fear, deepening alienation in Kashmir
Srinagar: Politicians across the political spectrum in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) have raised concern over the repeated summoning and detention of youth before special occasions, major government functions and public events, warning that such measures are creating fear and deepening alienation among the Kashmiris.
According to Kashmir Media Service, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Iltija Mufti, while criticizing the measures adopted by Indian forces and agencies in Kashmir, said that the repeated detentions, questioning and crackdowns were creating a deliberate “fear psychosis”, in which ordinary people increasingly feel that anyone could be picked up at any time.
“Anything that’s happening here is not coincidental. It is supposed to create a certain sense of fear,” Mufti was quoted by Indian news portal The Wire as having said. She said sweeping security measures following individual incidents had created a climate in which an entire population felt under suspicion. “It’s supposed to create an atmosphere where everybody knows that there is a reign of suppression, repression and collective punishment,” she said.
“If authorities repeatedly claim that militancy has declined and that there are no widespread encounters, why does a single incident result in large-scale detentions and questioning?” Iltija asked. “So what does that mean? That we’re all militants?”
She said the practice of suspecting entire communities was deepening alienation rather than improving security.
Her remarks came as concerns grow over the scale of the crackdown in IIOJK following recent attacks in south Kashmir. More than 3,000 youths had been picked up by Indian forces and agencies across Kashmir.
Iltija described the crackdown as systematic and institutionalized, saying it extended beyond suspected militants to political parties, social and human rights activists, lawyers and journalists. She termed it a “broader effort to silence sections of Kashmiri society capable of documenting or articulating whatever is happening”.
National Conference (NC) leader and MLA Tanvir Sadiq, speaking to reporters at the party headquarters in Srinagar, said people living peacefully with their families and earning their livelihoods should not be unnecessarily summoned to police stations, particularly ahead of important occasions and special events. Such summonses, he said, create an atmosphere of fear and apprehension.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI (M)) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami also criticized the practice, saying that summoning people, particularly young people, had been occurring for years but had increased since August 5, 2019.
He questioned whether indiscriminately arresting or summoning people served India’s interest or improved the law and order situation in the valley.
Firdous Baba, spokesperson for incarcerated Kashmiri MP Engineer Rashid, said repeated summoning of Kashmiris, particularly young people, around India’s Independence Day, Republic Day and government functions was “highly condemnable and unjustified”.
He said that even people acquitted by courts had been called to police stations.
Baba also said that police verification certificates were being denied to people whose relatives had crossed the LoC in the 1990s, arguing that such measures amounted to collective punishment.
