National Conference Srinagar MP Ruhullah Mehdi and Peoples Democratic Party leader Iltija Mufti on Wednesday claimed police have arrested more than 500 people in connection with Monday’s killing of a former soldier, calling it a collective punishment of Kashmiris.
Their claim of unprecedented arrests came as home minister Amit Shah chaired a high-level security meeting where he emphasised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “policy of zero tolerance” of militancy to achieve “the goal of a terrorism-free Jammu and Kashmir”.
Militants on Monday killed former soldier Manzoor Ahmad Wagay and injured his wife and kin in Behibagh village of Kulgam. The government has launched a massive crackdown across Kashmir and made dozens of detentions.
Mehdi said he was briefed about “reports of over 500 individuals being rounded up by the SOG in sweeping nocturnal raids across Kashmir”.
“The actual number is suspected to be much higher. I fail to imagine the terror of a family whose loved ones now lie in the abyss of an opaque security system. This is not security. This is punishment by exile,” he said on X. The Srinagar MP condemned the attack on the soldier and his family and said violence, especially against women and children, is abhorrent.
“But to punish an entire population for the crimes of a few is not counterterrorism — it is collective retribution. The establishment in Kashmir and Delhi need to arrive at a common denominator as far as conducting operations in Kashmir is concerned. The use of vague, legally unsound terminology such as ‘OGWs (overground workers)’, ‘hybrid militants’ to justify human rights violations must be shunned,” he said.
OGWs and hybrid militants are the terms used by security forces for people who have no record of involvement in cases of militancy.
Iltija, the daughter of former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and the PDP’s media adviser, asked the lieutenant governor’s administration to explain why it was treating every Kashmiri as a militant. “Five hundred youths have been arrested in just one day in Kulgam, Budgam and Ganderbal,” Iltija told reporters. “I want to ask the LG administration whether everybody is a militant here. Why do you suspect everybody here?” she asked.
