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Srinagar: In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the notorious National Investigation Agency (NIA), created under the NIA Act of 2008, has become an instrument of repression in the hands of the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to silence Kashmiri voices and delegitimize their struggle for the UN-recognized right to self-determination.<\/p>\n
With its headquarters in New Delhi, the NIA\u2019s jurisdiction was extended to Jammu and Kashmir in 2008. Since then, the dreaded agency has established offices across the territory and operates without needing sanction from the local administration. This has enabled warrantless raids, arbitrary seizures, and mass arrests, eroding even the nominal autonomy of the occupied region.<\/p>\n
The agency is accused of implicating Kashmiri civilians, Hurriyat leaders, journalists, businessmen, and rights defenders in fabricated cases of so-called \u201cterror-funding\u201d and \u201canti-India\u201d activities. Observers say its real purpose is to criminalize dissent and weaken the freedom struggle through fear and harassment.<\/p>\n
Since 2017, the NIA has intensified its operations, arresting top resistance leaders including Shabbir Ahmad Shah, Masarrat Alam Butt, Asiya Andrabi, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Farooq Ahmad Dar, Altaf Ahmad Shah (Fantoosh), Ayaz Akbar, Pir Saifullah, Mehraj-ud-Din Kalwal, and Shahid-ul-Islam after a doctored Indian media sting. Most of them remain behind bars in New Delhi\u2019s Tihar jail. Hurriyat leader Altaf Ahmad Shah died in NIA custody in October 2022, highlighting the agency\u2019s inhuman treatment of detainees.<\/p>\n
The NIA has also harassed journalists, including editors of Greater Kashmir and Kashmir Reader, and arrested rights activist Khurram Parvez on trumped-up charges, drawing global condemnation. Even ordinary civilians, such as Parvaiz Ahmad Jothar and Bashir Ahmad Jothar of Pahalgam, have been falsely implicated through fabricated documents.<\/p>\n
The dreaded agency also unleashed a spree of confiscation of civilian properties including schools and offices of political parties in IIOJK, targeting the homes and lands of ordinary Kashmiris under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Analysts note that such actions are aimed at punishing the local population collectively, instilling fear, and creating conditions to alter the demographic character of the occupied territory.<\/p>\n
Legal experts in the territory argue that the NIA Act itself was unconstitutional in the context of Jammu and Kashmir\u2019s pre-2019 special status, as law and order was a state subject. Advocates maintain that shifting detainees to prisons outside Kashmir is a deliberate policy to break their spirit and burden families financially and emotionally.<\/p>\n
Veteran Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Gilani had warned in June 2017 that NIA raids were meant to coerce resistance leadership into surrender. Even pro-India politicians like Mehbooba Mufti have admitted that the BJP is misusing the agency as its \u201cpet tool\u201d to intimidate and browbeat all dissenting voices.<\/p>\n
International rights watchdogs including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and UN Special Rapporteurs have repeatedly raised alarm over India\u2019s misuse of its investigative agencies in Kashmir. Analysts in Srinagar maintain that the BJP\u2019s \u201cmuscular policy\u201d is based on institutional coercion rather than dialogue, deepening alienation among Kashmiris.<\/p>\n
The use of the NIA in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, they say, exposes New Delhi\u2019s reliance on repression instead of reconciliation, militarization instead of democracy, and punishment instead of justice. \u2014 Compiled by KMS editor Raies Mir<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Srinagar: In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the notorious National Investigation Agency (NIA), created under the NIA Act of 2008, has become an instrument of repression in the hands of the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to silence Kashmiri voices and delegitimize their struggle for the UN-recognized right to self-determination. With its …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":182784,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-182761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indian-occupied-jammu-and-kashmir","tag-top-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/09\/nia-act-amendment-2019.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182761"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":188805,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182761\/revisions\/188805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}