Srinagar, Feb 5, KDC: Parliament Member from Srinagar, Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi has sharply condemned the mass detentions in Kashmir that have followed the recent Kulgam attack.
In a strongly worded post on ‘X’, Ruhullah as per Kashmir Dot Com criticized the sweeping operations as a form of “collective retribution” that punishes entire communities rather than targeting individual criminals.
“I have been briefed about reports of over 500 individuals being rounded up by the SOG in sweeping nocturnal raids across Kashmir. The number is suspected to be much higher in actuality. I fail to imagine the terror of a family whose loved ones now lie in the abyss of an opaque security system. This is not security. This is punishment by exile,” he said.
“I unequivocally condemn the attack on the Territorial Army soldier and his family. Violence, especially against women and children, is abhorrent. But to punish an entire population for the crimes of a few is not counterterrorism – it is collective retribution. The establishment in Kashmir and in Delhi need to arrive at a common denominator as far as conducting operations in Kashmir is concerned. The use of vague, legally unsound terminology such as “OGWs,” “Hybrid Militants”, etc. to justify human rights violations must be shunned.”
“No regime in the world has successfully governed a population by making itself the object of its people’s fear and resentment. I strongly remind you of the moral calculus at play here, if you must rule by repression, then you have already lost your legitimacy. If your idea of democracy is a valley silenced by fear rather than engaged in dialogue, then your democracy lies in darkness,” he added. (KDC)