Srinagar: Moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was put under house arrest while hundreds of Kashmiris were verbally summoned and “bound down” by authorities ahead of Union home minister Amit Shah’s visit to J&K on Sunday (April 6).Mirwaiz, who was scheduled to chair an award ceremony by Srinagar-based Tibyan Quranic Research Institute on Sunday, was put under detention at his residence in Nigeen locality, according to reports.“His continued detention and restrictions on his religious and social responsibilities, especially during such significant occasions, are deeply regrettable and hurt the sentiments of the people,” an aide of Mirwaiz told The Wire.Over the past week, sources said hundreds of individuals listed in police records as ‘stone-pelters’, ‘overground workers’, surrendered militants, militant sympathisers and the kin of former militants were summoned and “bound down” in Baramulla, Shopian, Anantnag and Kulgam districts.Some of those held by the police were allegedly part of pro-freedom and anti-India protests that rocked the valley from 2008-2018. While the courts have granted them bail in these cases, there are no formal charges pending against them, sources said.Asked about the detentions, senior superintendent of police (SSP) Anantnag, G.V. Sundeep Chakravarthy said that he was “busy in a meeting” and did not respond to the queries.SSP Shopian Anayat Ali said that the action against the suspects was part of a broader security arrangement which is put into place on the occasions of significant holidays or days of national importance like Republic Day and Independence Day. “These suspects are bound down to prevent any law and order problems,” he said, adding that there was “nothing new” about the police action ahead of the Shah’s visit.Shah is scheduled to arrive at the Jammu airport on Sunday evening from where he will head to the Raj Bhavan. Although there has been no official communication about his schedule, the home minister is likely to review the pace of developmental works taken up by the Union government in J&K post 2019 and security preparedness amid a surge in violence in Jammu division.According to reports, Shah is likely to visit the International Border (IB) in Kathua district which has witnessed a spate of civilian killings and that of policemen amid a surge in militancy-related violence in the region. These come in the aftermath of a tribal man, who accused the police of framing him in a false militancy case, died by suicide in February this year.On March 27, three policemen were killed in a fierce gun battle in Juthana area of Kathua’s Safian village which falls along the international border. It took two days for the police to retrieve their bodies from the area which has a network of natural caves and undulating topography.The police claimed to have killed two suspected militants during the operation. Another policeman, who was injured during the initial firefight in Juthana, later succumbed to his injuries at a Jammu hospital. Four women among six members of a Kathua family have been arrested for allegedly helping the militants involved in the Kathua encounter.SSP Ali, who was earlier posted in Kathua, said that a 65-year-old man suspected of being an overground worker of militants was jailed last year for allegedly providing logistical support to militants involved in the attack on the army in 2024 in Kathua’s Badnota village in which five soldiers were killed.“He was involved in the first encounter in Kathua more than 20 years ago. Last year too he was involved in sheltering the terrorists who attacked the army. Now his family members have also sheltered terrorists who martyred four policemen last week. It shows the level of radicalisation among those who have been involved in terrorism,” he said.A group of foreign militants are on the prowl in Kathua-Udhampur belt. Last week they held a family hostage at their house in Chore Panjwa area of Udhampur district’s Majalta block and later decamped with some food items and a smartphone.Amit Shah’s J&K visitDuring his visit, Shah is also likely to meet the parliamentarians and J&K Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Jammu before flying to Srinagar on Monday. In Srinagar, he is expected to chair a security review meeting along with lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha and senior home ministry and Union Territory administration officers.Officials said that security has been stepped up in Srinagar and some parts of Kashmir where several individuals, some of whom are in their fifties, were verbally summoned to police stations and “bound down” to ensure an ‘incident-free’ visit. “The houses of some of those who didn’t respond to the summons were raided,” sources said.Sources said that some individuals against whom the police have taken action were booked in cases of stone pelting dating back to the 2008 Amarnath land row.“My mother and wife passed away some years ago. I have two daughters aged six and eight years and an 85-year-old father, all of whom are dependent on me as there is no one to take care of them in my absence. Out of two cases, the court has acquitted me in one case and bailed me in another but the harassment has not stopped,” said a 48-year-old man from north Kashmir, wishing anonymity.A middle-aged man from south Kashmir who was first booked in 2008 in a case of stone pelting, alleged that he was falsely booked in more than a dozen cases by the police in subsequent years and also detained under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA).“I got married soon after the police filed the first case. I have renounced all forms of protest. I have two daughters, one of whom has not been keeping well due to some neurological problem. But the phone calls and summons from police have not stopped in these years,” he said.“Whenever there’s a national holiday or a VIP from Delhi is visiting Kashmir, I get verbal summons from the local police station where I am detained for some time depending on the mood of the police officials,” said another suspect who was summoned to the local police station in north Kashmir.“He has already given in writing several times that he won’t participate in any protest or illegal activity. We want to live in peace,” a south Kashmir resident whose son is among those detained by police, said, wishing anonymity.However, a senior police officer said that these suspected individuals are routinely examined and their activities are scrutinised, “It is an infection which will take time to go away. However, the list of these suspects is revised and the number has come down in recent years,” the officer, who didn’t want to be named, said.
