Pulwama house of Red Fort blast accused Umar Nabi demolished

While houses of those accused in militancy-related cases have been previously attached under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), prior to Friday, the only time houses of accused were razed in Kashmir was in the aftermath of April’s terror attack in Pahalgam.

On April 24, security forces demolished the home of Adil Ahmad Thoker in Bijbehara, one of the suspects in the Pahalgam case at the time. Over the next three days, similar joint teams of security forces blew up the houses of families or relatives of nine other terrorists — from an 18-year-old who joined militancy less than six months ago, to a man from Kupwara who crossed over to Pakistan 35 years ago, allegedly for arms training and never returned.

On Friday, former J&K chief minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said the “harshest recourse” should be taken against those involved in the Delhi blast, “but as per the law”.

While joining her party’s celebrations upon winning the by-election in Budgam, Mufti said razing homes where “eldery parents live and have no connection to this episode”, along with arresting those known to the accused, “is against the law”.

Srinagar MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi said that demolishing a home doesn’t deliver “punishment”, but that it only inflicts collective suffering.

“Making an entire family homeless during the harsh winter of Kashmir without evidence/court order, or any law linking them to the incident is an act of cruelty. It doesn’t bring justice to the innocent lives that we lost in the terror attack, and it doesn’t achieve the ends of justice,” he said.

Calling for the “actual perpetrators” to be held accountable through lawful investigation, Mehdi said that mass detentions, coercive interrogations, and illegal demolitions “will not bring peace, they will drag Kashmir back by decades”.

The J&K Police has not so far issued any formal statement on the demolition.

Umar was employed at the School of Medical Sciences and Research Centre at Al Falah University in Faridabad.