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Srinagar: Politicians across the political spectrum in Jammu and Kashmir are raising concern over the repeated summoning and detention of youth before a national holiday, any major government function or a major public event.  Politicians warned that such security measures being used in the valley are creating fear and widening an already fragile trust deficit between residents and the administration.

Criticising the measures adapted by the security agencies in Kashmir, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Iltija Mufti told The Wire that the repeated detentions, questioning and crackdowns were creating what she described as a deliberate “fear psychosis”, in which ordinary people increasingly feel that anyone could be picked up at any time.

“Anything that’s happening here is not coincidental. It is supposed to create a certain sense of fear,” Mufti said.

She argued that sweeping security measures following individual incidents had created a climate in which an entire population felt under suspicion.

“It’s supposed to create an atmosphere where everybody knows that there is a reign of suppression, repression and collective punishment,” she told The Wire.

‘Are we all militants?’

Iltija’s question was pointed, “if authorities repeatedly claim that militancy has declined and that there are no widespread encounters, why does a single incident result in large-scale detentions and questioning?”.

“So what does that mean? That we’re all militants?” she asked.

Iltija said the practice of suspecting entire communities was deepening alienation rather than improving security. She also referred to her own alleged manhandling by male police personnel last week, saying such incidents sent a wider message to Kashmiris that political or social status offered little protection.

“Why was I manhandled last week?” she said. “If the daughter of a former chief minister, granddaughter of a former home minister, can be manhandled by male cops, then anything can happen to anyone.”

Her remarks come as concerns grow over the scale of the security crackdown in the Valley following recent terror attacks in south Kashmir. Police sources cited by The Indian Express said more than 2,500 youths had been picked up across Kashmir, including over 700 from Srinagar, more than 200 from Budgam and 178 from Baramulla, besides hundreds from other........

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