Srinagar: National Conference MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi on Wednesday condemned the “detentions of 500 people” in Jammu and Kashmir after the Kulgam terror attack, saying that “punishing an entire population for the actions of a few is not counterterrorism but collective retribution”.
On Monday, terrorists shot dead Manzoor Ahmad Wagay, an ex-serviceman, and injured his wife and 13-year-old niece in an attack in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district.
“I unequivocally condemn the attack on the Territorial Army soldier and his family. 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,” Mehdi said in a post on X.
The Lok Sabha member from Srinagar said he has been briefed about reports of over 500 persons being detained during raids in Kashmir.
“I have been briefed about reports of over 500 individuals being rounded up by the SOG in sweeping nocturnal raids across Kashmir. The number is suspected to be much higher in actuality.
“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 added.
Mehdi said the establishment in J&K and in Delhi need to arrive at a common denominator as far as conducting operations in Kashmir are concerned.
“The use of vague, legally unsound terminology such as ‘OGWs’, ‘Hybrid Militants’, etc. to justify human rights violations must be shunned. No regime in the world has successfully governed a population by making itself the object of its people’s fear and resentment.
“I strongly remind you of the moral calculus at play here, if you must rule by repression, then you have already lost your legitimacy. If your idea of democracy is a valley silenced by fear rather than engaged in dialogue, then your democracy lies in darkness,” he said.
Senior CPI(M) leader and MLA Kulgam, Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami also highlighted the plight of the local population in the face of the “crackdown” it has been facing.
Taking to micro-blogging site X, Tarigami said: “Reports of nocturnal raids and arbitrary detentions following a terror attack in Behibagh area of Kulgam are deeply disturbing. While the killing of innocent people deserves strongest condemnation, subjecting an entire community to collective punishment is unjust & unacceptable”.
