150 separatists detained in J&K midnight swoop

Srinagar: Tension mounted in Kashmir on Saturday as police came down heavily on separatists and detained over 150 people, mainly from the Jamaat-e-Islami, ahead of Monday’s hearing in the Supreme Court on Article 35A of the Constitution.

Though police termed the nocturnal raids on separatists’ homes across the Valley as routine, saying that leaders and potential stone pelters have been picked up in the past, officials privy to the development said this was the first major crackdown on the Jamaat-e-Islami that has in the past been touted to be the parent political party of the Hizbul Mujahideen. The organisation, however, has always maintained that it is a socio-religious group. Article 35A, which provides special rights and privileges to natives of Jammu and Kashmir and has been challenged by a Kashmiri woman who was denied property rights after she married a man from other state. An organisation called Ikkjut Jammu has challenged the Article claiming that the provision created an Islamic state on the secular territory of India and should, therefore, be declared unconstitutional. Those detained during raids on the intervening night of Friday and 150 separatists detained in J&K midnight swoop on Saturday include Amir (chief) of the Jamaat, Abdul Hamid Fayaz, its spokesperson Zahid Ali and former and incumbent officer-bearers Ghulam Qadir Lone, Abdur Rouf, Mudasir Ahmed, Abdul Salam, Bakhtawar Ahmed, Muhammad Hayat, Bilal Ahmad, Ghulam Mohammad Dar and many others. Earlier,Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik was also taken into preventive custody.

Official sources said that the crackdown on the separatists will continue and more “arrests” are likely to take place in coming days. The sources said that most of those detained are being lodged in jails outside the Valley. A senior police officer said that the separatist leaders have been taken into “preventive custody” and not arrested as such.

The crackdown on the separatists has come close on the heels of the deadly terror attack in southern district of Pulwama in which over 40 CRPF personnel were killed and several others wounded on February 14.

The Jamaat sought to link the crackdown with the Centre’s “plan” to repeal Article 35A of the Constitution.

It said in a statement, “Something seems fishy at this moment when Article 35A is listed in Supreme Court. The petitions against constitutional provision which grants special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir are being heard within days and the way forces personnel unleashed the spree of mass arrest and detained dozens of Jamaat members prior to the hearing seems something fishy is happening behind the curtains.”

Heightened tension was palpable and people were seen in groups on streets even as security was tightened in the Valley.

Orders issued by some government departments added to the fears of the people. The government medical college in Srinagar cancelled winter vacation of its faculty members and directed them to positively report for work on Monday.

The department of food, civil supplies and consumer affairs, which provides ration to people through its outlets, has directed its staff in south Srinagar to ensure completing sale of food grains in their respective areas by Saturday evening.

They were also directed to keep ration depots and sale outlets open on Sunday as well.

Markets in Lal Chowk, the commercial hub of the valley, and adjoining areas opened more than an hour late as business owners were not sure of the situation in the wake of detention of the separatist.

The sound of frequent flying of fighter jets till 1.30 am on Saturday added to the worries of the residents due to simmering Indo-Pakistan tension following the Pulwama suicide car bomb attack.

The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), an umbrella coalition of separatist groups, has called for a shutdown in the valley on Sunday.

“To protest these arbitrary mass arrests, nocturnal raids, insecurity among people due to state repression, killings and censorship and any tampering with Article 35A, a strike will be observed on February 24,” the JRL said in a statement.