Houses of 3 more suspected terrorists razed in J-K; Political parties tell Centre to be cautious
Srinagar, Apr 27 (PTI): Authorities here have demolished the houses of three alleged active terrorists in Bandipora, Pulwama and Shopian districts of Jammu and Kashmir as security forces continued their crackdown on the terror ecosystem following the Pahalgam terror attack.
With this, nine houses of suspected terrorists and overground workers of terror outfits have been razed so far since the April 22 attack in the lush meadows of Baisaran that killed 26 people and left the nation grief-stricken and fuming.
As part of the anti-terror crackdown, that picked up more steam after the Pahalgam tragedy, security forces have raided more than 500 locations in the Valley in just five days and grilled hundreds of suspects. Political parties have urged the Centre to ensure that innocent people are not targeted while it goes after terrorists.
Carrying on with the targeted demolition drive, authorities pulled down the house of Adnan Shafi at Wandina in Shopian district on Saturday night, officials said and claimed that Shafi had joined terrorist ranks last year.
The house of another suspected active terrorist Amir Nazir was pulled down in Pulwama district, they said.
In Bandipora district, the house of suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist, Jameel Ahmad Shergojri, was razed. Officials said Shergojri has been an active terrorist since 2016.
With security agencies launching a massive operation against the terror ecosystem active in Jammu and Kashmir, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said the Centre should proceed carefully and avoid alienating innocent people while hunting down terrorists.
"The Indian government must tread with caution and carefully distinguish between terrorists and civilians following the recent Pahalgam attack. It must not alienate innocent people, especially those opposing terror," she said in a post on X.
The former chief minister alleged there were reports of "thousands being arrested and scores of houses of common Kashmiris being demolished along with those of militants".
"I appeal to the government to direct the authorities to take care that innocent people are not made to bear the brunt as alienation aids terrorists' goals of division and fear," she added.
Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also asked the Centre not to punish innocent Kashmiris in its quest for justice for the victims of the terror attack.
"While the Kashmiris collectively condemn the heinous crime at Pahalgam, and it is imperative to bring its perpetrators to justice, indiscriminate arrests and videos of houses and neighbourhoods being demolished circulating on social media is disturbing and distressing.
"I urge the authorities that in seeking justice for the innocent victims do not punish innocent Kashmiri families," he said on X.
People's Conference leader Sajad Lone said those handling law and order should not do anything that can reverse the mindset that has changed after the Pahalgam attack. "The mass protests against the Pahalgam killings was a rare occurrence, a first of its kind in the last 78 years... This a monumental shift, a milestone, but fragile at the same time."
"I hope that those in charge of law and order do understand the significance of the shift and don't do anything erroneously which impedes the shift or facilitates a return to the earlier mindset," he wrote on X.
The former minister said there was a general feeling across the Valley that the whole family was being punished for the actions of one person. "We approached the court also and termed it a form of collective punishment, inspired by the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, where the British were convinced of criminality and attributed it to ancestry."
"Using collectiveness to define criminality or terrorism is a curse and will never allow reconciliation and social introspection. I hope what has been achieved in the aftermath of the heinous carnage in Pahalgam, is understood by those at the helm. And these precious gains are not frittered away," he added.
Following the Pahalgam terror attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to hunt down the killers "to the ends of the earth" as his government linked the dastardly attack to Pakistan.
Since then New Delhi has announced a raft of retaliatory steps, including the cancellation of visas and suspension of the 1960s Indus Water Treaty, and Islamabad hitting back with a string of tit-for-tat measures, that included putting the 1972 Shimla Agreement in abeyance.
Pakistan has warned that if India actually goes through with diverting or blocking the Indus water flow, Islamabad would see it as an "act of war".
The Government of India must tread with caution and carefully distinguish between terrorists and civilians following the recent Pahalgam attack. It must not alienate innocent people, especially those opposing terror. There are reports of thousands being arrested and scores of…
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) April 27, 2025
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
