According to a senior local government official who spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity, at least 5 Kashmiri children, under the age of 18, are part of 3,000 people that have been detained in Indian Administered Kashmir since Aug 5.
“There is an atmosphere of fear in every house,” said Farhan’s mother, Nazia, adding that she did not know why her son was detained. “If they can pick up children, they can do anything.
Farhan is 13 year old boy, and one of those detained children. No one outside knows what is happening to Farhan while he is detained.
India’s Home Affairs Ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the detention of children. The supervising officer at the Kashmir police station where Farhan’s family claims he was held declined to speak with The Post.
A senior police official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the authorities are detaining people they think are likely to throw stones at security forces during protests.
According to The Washington Post, the region’s political leadership is under arrest, as are many lawyers, business executives and party workers, all in the name of preserving public order. So, too, are hundreds of young men who have been picked up by the authorities, sometimes on flimsy or unknown pretexts, their relatives say.
Heavy-handed security tactics are not new in Kashmir, which has been home to an anti-India insurgency since 1989. But experts say the scale and intensity of the current crackdown is unparalleled. Human rights observers at the United Nations have expressed their concern over the situation. “It’s very worrisome,” said Bernard Duhaime, the U.N. chair-rapporteur for the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.
A U.S. State Department spokesman said Thursday that the agency urges “respect for human rights, compliance with legal procedures, and an inclusive dialogue with those affected” in Kashmir, reported the Washington Post.
“We continue to be very concerned by reports of detentions and the continued restrictions on the residents of the region,” the spokesman said.
Members of the US Congress are publicly calling out India for its communications crackdown in Kashmir. This will snowball as more members hear from constituents unable to reach their loved ones.
Mainstream politicians belonging to the pro-India camp in Kashmiri politics have been detained under the act. The Post reviewed one such order for a party official of the Jammu & Kashmir People’s Conference that accused the official of having the ability to “use his network to influence the general masses to rise against the state.” It also said his party had demonstrated “unwanted dissent” toward Indian Parliament.
Lawyers have also been targeted for detention. Abdus Salam Rather, the president of the lawyer’s association in the district of Baramulla, close to Srinagar, was detained Aug. 5. Because of the communication shutdown, his daughter — who lives in the same city — did not find out about her father’s arrest until six days later.
Rather’s daughter, grandchildren and nephew stood outside the Srinagar jail hoping to see him. Abid Salam, his nephew, expressed shock that his uncle had been arrested. “All of Kashmir is a jail now,” said Salam. “Some of them are inside, and some, like us, are outside.”
