Anantnag attack: Militant houses razed, mass detentions draw ‘collective punishment’ charge
The houses of Adil Thokar and Haroon Rashid Ganaie, residents of Anantnag affiliated with Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, were demolished by joint teams of the army, J&K Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), officials said. Authorities also detained and questioned nearly 2,500 people in the Kashmir Valley in connection with the attack.
Also read: Police killed in terror attack in JK’s Anantnag
J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah, former CM Mehbooba Mufti and other political leaders condemned the mass arrests and demolitions, terming them as “mass punishment” that “will not improve the security situation on the ground”.
The action comes after head constable Ashiq Hussain Kureshi, who was on Amarnath Yatra security duty, was shot dead by a single assailant in Anantnag’s Lal Chowk area on Wednesday afternoon. The yatra, which started on July 3 and continued for 57 days, was temporarily suspended due to adverse weather conditions prevailing across J&K.
Also read: India slams Pak at UN over cross-border terrorism, says Kashmir is integral part of India
“I understand the anger of the police, but the Supreme Court has issued an order stating that such action should not be taken immediately. We witnessed a similar situation after the Pahalgam attack (in April 2025) where some people’s houses were demolished by bulldozers. At that time, I had to speak to the central government to stop this trend,” Abdullah told media persons on the sidelines of an event in Srinagar. He said demolishing the homes of “alleged terrorists” was “collective punishment” and had no place in democracy.
Mufti wrote about
