Srinagar, May 18: Jammu and Kashmir police Thursday said that the 20 houses including the one belonging to separatist Shabir Ahmed Shah were searched after inputs of movement of terrorists in the locality were received. The police also refuted the harassment allegations of Shah’s daughter stating all SoPs were followed during the search operation.
In a statement to news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), police said that there were tweets by the daughter of separatist Shabbir Shah claiming harassment during the search operation.
“It is clarified that it was a search of 20 houses, when inputs of movement of terrorists in this locality came. This has nothing to do with G-20 but is routine in case of inputs. No harassment/harm whatsoever was caused during this search & all SOPs were followed. The lady is strangely linking this with G-20, more strange is an ex CM linking this too with the event, when she herself was privy to such search in particular locality due to terrorist sighting,” the police statement said.
It said that the search team was having 3 DySPs, 3 women officials besides others. “Such attempts of forwarding a malicious agenda of attributing routine security measures to an event by the family of a separatist undergoing Jail in a terror funding case shows sheer frustration of some vested interests,” the police said.
Earlier, in her tweets, Shah’s daughter Sehar Shabir had wrote: “If this was because of G-20, this is the highest level of harassment we faced today. I am Sehar Shabir Shah daughter of Shabir Ahmad Shah who has completed 36 years of his life in imprisonment,” she tweeted. “Ahead of the G20 summit, troops including the army, SF, and black cat commandos raided our house at around 6:00 p.m. The army was scattered everywhere; they had used armoured vehicles to block off bypass and our entire colony. Our helper was in her room when they smashed down the gate of our kitchen garden, some hopped over walls, and entered our home through the kitchen garden. My mother was praying for the Asr at 6 in the evening and I had gone cycling. She had just begun praying when the doorbell rang. It took her a few minutes to finish her prayers, so she was unable to open the gate, but by that point, about 20 to 25 heavily armed men had broken in through the house’s gate. They then climbed the walls and jumped inside.”
Sehar further tweeted: “They began shouting at my mother when she opened the lobby door, asking her, “Who is at home?” She responded that she was alone, but they continued to shout and ask her, “Who else is at home?” They later entered the house as usual wearing boots, searched every inch of it and left a mess everywhere! My mother accompanied a few who searched the top level of the house and rest were checking the ground floor and other rooms. They destroyed the drawing room’s furnishings and scattered objects all over.”
Former J&K chief minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti also tweeted: “Right before G-20 in Kashmir, security forces are breaking into homes, ransacking & violating the privacy of people here. As if the existing repression in Kashmir wasn’t enough, GOIs paranoia about G20 has unleashed bigger demons. Even women are not being spared.”—(KNO)
