HM Amit Shah speaks to slain officer’s son over phone, LoP conveys assurance of Centre’s support; Baramulla MP Er Rashid, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and CPI(M)’s Tarigami raise concern over mass detentions and house demolitions in wake of Anantnag police killing
BuzzBytes News Desk
Srinagar, Jul 24 (BuzzBytes): Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Friday visited Lalpora, Beerwah in Budgam district to meet the family of Head Constable Ashiq Hussain Qureshi, who was martyred while fighting terrorists near Lal Chowk, Anantnag, earlier this week.
The Lieutenant Governor laid a wreath and paid glowing tributes to the braveheart, describing his sacrifice as etched in the collective memory of the nation. “The entire country is proud of the indomitable courage and devotion to duty shown by Head Constable Ashiq Hussain Qureshi. He has laid down his life for the motherland and his martyrdom will continue to inspire the youth of Jammu and Kashmir,” Sinha said.
Assuring the bereaved family of full support from the administration, the Lieutenant Governor said all welfare measures would be taken care of and the family would not be left alone. “The administration stands firmly with the family of the martyr. We will ensure that martyr Ashiq Hussain Qureshi’s son gets full support from the government till he completes his education and becomes eligible for compassionate appointment,” he stated. He also highlighted the achievements made under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in dismantling the terror ecosystem in the Union Territory and appealed to the youth of Jammu and Kashmir to draw inspiration from the martyr’s dedication and remain united in the fight against terrorism.
HM AMIT SHAH SPEAKS TO MARTYR’S SON, LOP CONVEYS ASSURANCE:
Leader of Opposition in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, Sunil Sharma, said Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to the son of the martyred Head Constable and assured the bereaved family of all possible assistance. Sharma, who visited the family at Lolipora in Budgam to offer condolences, said the Home Minister conveyed his sympathies to the family over the phone. “The family also shared their concerns directly with the Home Minister, who assured them that the Central Government stands firmly with them and would extend every possible support,” Sharma told reporters. According to further details shared by sources, Amit Shah, in the course of the conversation, paid tribute to the slain policeman’s bravery and sense of duty and said “the entire country stands with your family in this hour of grief.” He assured the family that the government is committed to their welfare, and told the martyr’s son that he would personally meet him during his next visit to Kashmir. Hailing the sacrifice, Sharma said two generations of the family had served the nation with dedication, and that efforts would be made to name a school or another public institution after Hussain in recognition of his service.
OPPOSITION, CIVIL SOCIETY VOICE CONCERN OVER DETENTIONS, DEMOLITIONS:
The killing has been followed by a wave of detentions and demolitions in south Kashmir that has drawn sharp reactions across the political and religious spectrum. Baramulla Member of Parliament Er Rashid staged a protest in the Lok Sabha on Friday over the mass detentions and demolition of residential houses in Kashmir that followed the killing. As the House assembled, he entered the Well of the House and raised slogans against what he described as large-scale detentions and demolitions in the Valley. The protest coincided with demonstrations by the Opposition, led by Rahul Gandhi, over the NEET issue, and Er Rashid criticised both the NDA and INDIA alliances, alleging that the concerns of the people of Jammu and Kashmir were being ignored. He said he had urged Gandhi to stand with the people of Kashmir, to which Gandhi responded that he would do so. Speaking outside Parliament, Er Rashid said he sympathised with the family of Ashiq Hussain Qureshi but questioned the reported detention of thousands of people and demolition of houses in the aftermath. “We feel the pain of the family of the policeman. But how can the arrest of thousands of people and the bulldozing of residential houses be justified?” he said, alleging Kashmiris were being subjected to collective punishment. He also referred to the death of an auto driver, Arif Hussain, in Bhaderwah, seeking a response from Union Minister of State Dr Jitendra Singh, and drew comparisons with the use of force against protesters in New Delhi.
Addressing the Friday congregation at the historic Jamia Masjid in Srinagar, Mirwaiz-e-Kashmir Dr Moulvi Mohammad Umar Farooq said that while the killing of the policeman was condemnable, innocent people should not face collective punishment. He said the detention, questioning and alleged harassment of more than two thousand youths across Kashmir on suspicion of being Over Ground Workers (OGWs), along with the reported demolition of houses belonging to suspected militants, had caused widespread concern. “An act of violence by one cannot justify collective punishment for all. Innocent youth and their families should not be made scapegoats,” he said, describing such measures as extrajudicial, unjust and counterproductive. The Mirwaiz welcomed the grant of bail to human rights activist Khurram Parvez and journalist Irfan Mehraj, hoping restrictions preventing their return to Kashmir would be reviewed. Referring to student protests in New Delhi, he said young people raising genuine concerns should be heard rather than subjected to force, and that reports of pellet injuries among protesters evoked painful memories of the impact of pellet guns on hundreds of people in Kashmir over the years. “Use of force cannot resolve grievances or issues, whether in Delhi or Kashmir. Dialogue, accountability and engagement are the only way to resolve such issues,” he said.
Addressing a press conference, senior CPI(M) leader and MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami called the killing “a deeply unfortunate and highly condemnable incident” and extended condolences to the bereaved family, but said indiscriminate and unabated arrests were “avoidable as they have repeatedly proved to be counterproductive.” He said reports from various parts of south Kashmir indicated large-scale arrests following the killing, and that the response of law-enforcing agencies must remain within the framework of the Constitution and the rule of law. “The growing bulldozer trend is establishing a dangerous precedent of arbitrary punishment. Demolishing residential houses of families remotely connected with alleged offenders amounts to collective punishment and devastates innocent households,” he said, citing Supreme Court directions that residential properties should not be demolished without due process. He also demanded that political detainees lodged in prisons outside Jammu and Kashmir for years be released, or at least shifted to jails within the Union Territory. Commenting separately on the youth agitation in Delhi over the NEET paper-leak issue, Tarigami saluted the “courage and determination” of protesting students, referenced the hunger strike of Ladakh activist Sonam Wangchuk, and alleged that security forces had used a “Kashmiri model” of crowd control involving pellet guns against Delhi protesters — a method, he said, that people of Jammu and Kashmir had themselves suffered since 2016.
