Omar, Mehbooba oppose demolition of terrorists’ houses in J&K

Within hours of the Jammu and Kashmir Police demolishing the houses of two terrorists operating from Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), a political controversy erupted, with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his arch political rival, former Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti, strongly opposing the action.

The houses of the two terrorists were demolished on Thursday morning, a day after the gruesome targeted killing of Police Head Constable Ashiq Hussain Qureshi at Lal Chowk in Anantnag district of south Kashmir.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti strongly criticised the action, describing it as counterproductive and contrary to democratic principles.

Reacting to the demolition, Omar Abdullah said that while he understood the anger within the police force over the killing of Head Constable Ashiq Hussain Qureshi, punitive actions such as demolishing houses and carrying out mass detentions would not help restore normalcy.

“I understand the police’s anger. However, the Supreme Court has laid down clear guidelines that such action should not be taken. We witnessed similar incidents after the Pahalgam terror attack, when several houses were bulldozed. Subsequent investigations revealed that not a single local resident was involved in that attack,” Abdullah said.

“Demolishing houses or making thousands of arrests will not improve the situation; instead, it will worsen it,” he asserted.

The Chief Minister said the people of Jammu and Kashmir had unequivocally condemned the Anantnag attack and expressed outrage over the killing of the police head constable.

“People are deeply anguished by the brutal killing of the police officer. We must carry our people with us in this fight against terrorism. Only then can we achieve lasting success,” he said.

Echoing similar concerns, former Chief Minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti condemned the killing of the police officer but questioned the government’s response.

“The killing of a police officer in the line of duty is a heinous and condemnable act. However, detaining over a thousand people and demolishing the houses of the families of two alleged militants amounts to collective punishment, which has no place in a democracy,” she said.

Mufti said that if the Centre maintained that militancy in Jammu and Kashmir had been reduced to near zero, it should adopt “a more humane and lawful approach” towards innocent civilians instead of resorting to what she termed “tit-for-tat measures” against an entire community.

Houses of Two Terrorists Demolished

Earlier in the day, security forces demolished two houses belonging to the families of alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists during overnight operations as part of an intensified crackdown on terror networks across Kashmir, a day after the targeted killing of a police head constable in Anantnag district.

One of the demolished houses belonged to the family of Adil Ahmad Thokar, an alleged LeT terrorist. The structure was destroyed in a powerful explosion during the operation, with the blast also damaging nearby houses, a religious structure, and a parked vehicle.

In a separate operation, security forces demolished the house of another alleged LeT terrorist, Haroon Rashid.

Officials said both Adil and Haroon have been active terrorists since 2018.

According to security officials, local recruitment into terrorist ranks has declined sharply, with no officially recorded instance of any local youth joining a terrorist organisation during the first seven months of this year. However, they said a small number of surviving local terrorists, aided by infiltrators from Pakistan, continue to pose security challenges.

The demolition drive coincided with a large-scale security operation across the Kashmir Valley, during which around 2,000 suspects were detained for questioning as investigators intensified efforts to dismantle the terror ecosystem following the Anantnag attack.

Sajad Lone, Mehdi Oppose Mass Detentions

Meanwhile, dissident National Conference Lok Sabha member Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi and Peoples Conference chief Sajad Gani Lone strongly condemned the detention of alleged terror sympathisers following the Anantnag terror attack.

“One gunman killed a Kashmiri policeman. So the state has detained over 2,500 Kashmiris. We are watching more than 2,500 young men being picked up within 24 hours under the phrase ‘detained for questioning’, which appears in no statute and carries no safeguard. And during the night, two homes were blown up. One of them had been demolished last year, rebuilt, and had been lived in for barely a few months,” Mehdi posted on X.

“The Supreme Court has held punitive demolition without due process to be unconstitutional,” he added.

Reacting to the authorities’ action, Sajad Lone said, “The actions of the J&K Police after yesterday’s dastardly attack will do more harm.”

“You cannot summon and arrest thousands of people merely because their names are included in the OGW list. The list is decades old. Most of these people are elderly and well into their seventies,” he said.

“There is a concept of reintegration in conflict situations. People who have taken up arms are eventually encouraged and facilitated to reintegrate into society,” he added.

“I don’t agree with the concept of mass arrests. It looks more like collective punishment. More importantly, this list is not infallible. There are many names in it that were included because of political affiliations at the behest of rulers in the past,” Lone said.

“Please have a relook. We live among the people here and are answerable to them. Which law of our country justifies this collective punishment? It is patently illegal,” Lone posted on X.