SRINAGAR: Security forces triggered three controlled explosions early Friday to raze the family home of Delhi ‘suicide bomber’ Dr Umar un-Nabi in his native Koil village of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, coinciding with the start of an operation by J&K Police to map potential sources of cars that could be “misused for unlawful activities”.The plan to demolish Umar’s home involved evacuating his kin and residents of nearby houses before using explosives to reduce the two-storey structure to rubble between 12.30am and 2.30am. Around a dozen houses in the vicinity suffered some damage, residents alleged.J&K CM Omar Abdullah warned that “such actions” would only fuel anger. “If terrorism could be stopped by these actions, it would have ended long ago,” he told reporters in Jammu. “But these decisions are not in our hands. Those taking these decisions should reflect on whether they have succeeded in stopping terrorism through these methods.”
Omar said terrorism did decline in J&K not too long ago “without the need to blow up anyone’s home”.National Conference’s Srinagar-Budgam MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi called the demolition “collective punishment” for Umar’s act of blowing up his explosives-laden car in the middle of rush-hour traffic near Delhi’s Red Fort last Monday, killing 13 people and wounding many. The Faridabad-based doctor had been reported missing since his associate’s arrest on suspicion of working for a JeM terror module.“Making an entire family homeless during the harsh winter of Kashmir without evidence/court order or any law linking them to the attack 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,” Mehdi said.“Hold the actual perpetrators accountable through lawful investigation. Mass detentions, coercive interrogations and illegal demolitions will not bring peace; they will drag Kashmir back by decades,” he warned.PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said the govt must act strictly against the perpetrators of terror attacks instead of their families. “We are not against action being taken against those involved. But targeting their friends, relatives, parents and siblings?” she said in Budgam.The crackdown on possible attempts by terror modules to procure vehicles for terror attacks such as the one in Delhi took police teams to car dealers across the Valley.In Pulwama district, cops visited multiple vehicle dealerships and fertiliser and chemical outlets to check sales records for anything suspicious.“We are trying to curb potential misuse, strengthen regulatory compliance, and ensure transparency in the sale and distribution of vehicles and chemicals. The focus is on verifying end-user details to prevent any possibility of vehicles or chemicals being diverted for unlawful activities,” an officer said.Car dealers in Shopian also had police teams visiting them to check their transaction records, Aadhaar details, phone numbers and other personal particulars of each buyer and seller. Used-car and scrap dealers are also under scrutiny.In Awantipora, south of Srinagar, the administration attached the home of a member of the separatist Jammu and Kashmir People’s League. The owner, identified as Mohd Yaqoob Sheikh of Namblabal Pampore, is suspected to be in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.“The property attachment, carried out after due legal approval, marks a significant step in ongoing efforts to dismantle secessionist networks and curb unlawful activities posing a threat to national security,” police said.
