Kashmir crackdown gathers pace – from deep inside forests to capital Srinagar

Sources say the operations were intensified after Union Home Minister Amit Shah asked security agencies to take tough measures to root out terrorists and their support structure.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which has been directed by the Union Home Ministry to take over the investigation from J&K Police, has registered a fresh FIR. It also recreated the crime scene with the help of eyewitnesses and recorded their statements.

According to officials, the combing operations are being conducted by the Army, the police and the paramilitary forces.

Kashmiri villagers inspect the debris of the blown-up home of an alleged terrorist at Murran village in Pulwama on Saturday. (Photo: AP)

The Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam is connected through dense forest to Kokernag in the south, Kishtwar forests in the southwest, Sonamarg and Amarnath cave shrine in the north, and Tral and Dachigam National Park in the northwest. The Dachigam National Park is in the vicinity of Srinagar city, while Kishtwar forest further connects it to Doda and other parts of the Jammu region.

“The searches have been going on for the last three days,” a senior police officer told The Indian Express. “The forces are moving slowly and cautiously from different directions.”

Meanwhile, in the Valley, the state police have launched a crackdown against the alleged “terror support structure”.

Over the past four days, more than 2,000 people have been detained by the police from across the Valley. In Srinagar district, police have raided the houses of at least 63 alleged terror sympathisers, including a woman, in their quest to “dismantle the terror ecosystem”.

“This decisive action of J&K police aims to dismantle the terrorist ecosystem by identifying and taking legal action against individuals engaged in such anti-national and criminal activities,” the police said. “The searches were carried out to seize weapons, documents, digital devices with the objective of evidence collection and intelligence gathering to detect and deter any conspiratorial or terrorist activity.”

In south Kashmir’s Anantnag, police have detained 175 “suspects” for questioning. The police have also intensified cordon and search operations, ambushes, and patrolling in vulnerable areas, while more mobile checkpoints have been erected on key routes.

The demolition of six homes so far is to “raise the costs of becoming a militant”, officials said. On Thursday night, the houses of Adil Ahmad Thoker and Asif Ahmad Sheikh, suspected of being involved in the Pahalgam attack, were demolished at Bijbehara and Tral in south Kashmir.

On Friday night, the homes of Ehsan-ul Haq at Pulwama, Shahid Ahmad at Shopian, and Zakir Ahmad at Kulgam were demolished. The house of Farooq Ahmad Tedwa was also blown up in an explosion at Kalaroos in Kupwara districy. Tedwa crossed over to Pakistan in 1990.