Detentions, Demolitions

The Pahalgam terror attack has led to demolitions, detentions, raids, cordon-and-search operations, ambushes and intensified patrolling across the Valley

- Ishfaq Naseem

ON April 27, an armoured vehicle stopped outside the house of suspected militant Aamir Nazir in Khasipora area of South Kashmir's Tral. Gun-wielding police personnel wearing black uniforms walked on the path strewn with shards of glass from broken windows of Nazir's damaged house.

Just a few hours earlier, on the intervening night of April 26 and 27, security forces blew up the house using an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) after detaining Nazir's family members. The explosion was so intense that people who lived several miles away heard it. The windows of the house had been blown off due to the heavy impact of the explosion. The corrugated iron roof was warped and the household goods lay scattered inside.

When the policemen entered the house the next day, a group of curious onlookers, who had assembled to see the extent of the damage, quickly exited. The policemen took photos of the partially damaged house. “A different team came here yesterday to place the IED. We are here to check the extent of the damage and ascertain if further action is required. It looks like the damage is full,” says a police official.

Outside the house, in an open field, women relatives sat on a plastic sheet and wailed over the loss. “What did the police say about the release of the family? How long will they be kept in detention? The house is already fully damaged. None can live there, so what is the need to demolish it further?” asks one of the relatives.

Nazir's grandmother, Aasha Banoo, who lives in the Pinglish area of Tral, rushed to Khasipora after she heard about the blast. She asserts that the detained family members have no role in militancy and adds: “What has the family done? The boy chose his own path. How are we responsible? They have detained the child's mother. The police should release them.”