Govt cracks down on separatists, 150 held

Jamaat-e-islami, JKLF on radar; troop deployment stepped up in Valley

SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI: Jammu and Kashmir police cracked down hard on separatist groups, especially the Jamaat –e-islami, arresting its local chief Abdul Hamid Fayaz and 150 other activists, as the central government reinforced the strength of paramilitary forces in the state on Saturday, days after the deadly Pulwama attack. As night fell, Jammu and Kashmir appeared to be poised on the edge.

Raids on the separatist groups, which led to a shutdown in parts of Srinagar, began Friday when the police, backed by the army, started arresting their members in central, north and south Kashmir, officers in the police and security agencies said. Some separatist leaders couldn’t be located either in their homes or offices and escaped arrest. Among those detained was Yasin Malik, leader of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, the officers said.

Residents of Srinagar spent Friday night under the drone of fighter jets and helicopters as the raids continued and no official word was forthcoming on what was afoot.

Following the Pulwama suicide car bombing on February 14 that left 40 CRPF troopers dead, some residents speculated about a possible escalation of tension between the subcontinental neighbours.

India has accused Pakistan of masterminding the attack.

Former civil servant Shah Faesal, who resigned last month,

tweeted about the unease the situation had given rise to. “Prime Minister@narendramodi,” he tweeted. “We haven’t slept last night and we don’t know whether we will wake up alive tomorrow. People are avoiding movement and hoarding essential items; it is a doomsday feeling. Can somebody tell us what is happening here. Kashmir wants peace.”

J&K governor Satya Pal Malik told HT late on Saturday that there was no need for residents to panic. The troops are being brought to the Valley before a special Election Commission team visits Kashmir in the next few days. Elections to the Lok Sabha are due in the coming months.

By afternoon, queues started forming outside petrol pumps as people tried to stock up on fuel.

“There is panic among people that something is going to happen so people are stocking petrol and diesel; the sale is different from routine days,’’ said Arshid Khan, a salesman at a petrol pump in the Dalgate neighbourhood.

As queues at pumps lengthened, the government asked oil companies in Jammu and Kashmir to limit fuel sales to civilians. Senior officials in the Jammu and Kashmir administration said the reason was that fuel trucks hadn’t reached the valley because the Jammu -Srinagar highway wasn’t fully operational because of bad weather and landslides.

“Fuel was borrowed from the forces, we need to replenish their stocks,” one official said. The divisional administration said the fuel rationing order would be withdrawn after public stocks are replenished.

The arrests of separatists were ordered after series of highlevel security meetings in Srinagar chaired by the J&K chief secretary and senior police officers in past few days.

The Centre is also planning to ban the Jamaat-e- Islami in the coming days, people aware of the plan said on condition of anonymity.