By Bilal Kuchay, Omkar Khandekar
PULWAMA, India — Indian authorities have detained at least 1,500 people in India-administered Kashmir after a militant attack killed 26 people last week, a top police officer told NPR. Several homes linked to alleged militants were also destroyed.
India accused Pakistan of having a connection to the attack — the worst aimed at Indian civilians in more than a decade — claiming that the group that claimed responsibility was backed by the Pakistani military. That ratcheted up tensions between the two nuclear-armed countries, who both control parts of Kashmir, but claim ownership over the whole region.
A statement from the Pakistani prime minister expressed concern over the loss of lives of tourists, and denied any responsibility for the deadly rampage in an alpine meadow on Tuesday — in which gunmen appeared to target Hindu men, before fleeing into the forested mountains before security forces could arrive. Days after the attack, Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif said they were open to a “neutral, transparent probe” into what happened.
Over the past week, India has suspended visas for Pakistani visitors, expelled some of its diplomats, and halted a decades-old treaty that divides six rivers between the two countries. Pakistan announced tit-for-tat measures. It also suspended cross-border trade and closed off Pakistani airspace for Indian aircraft.
But some Kashmiri residents visited by NPR say Indian officials have taken other measures within the part of the territory that it controls. Homes belonging to five suspected perpetrators were destroyed, said VK Birdi, a senior Indian police official in the region. He did not say who carried out the demolitions, and other Indian authorities did not respond to NPR requests for comment.
Ruhullah Mehdi, a member of Parliament from Kashmir’s ruling National Conference party, said he had received several messages from residents in the villages where the houses were blown up. “They are sure that these acts were carried out by security forces. It’s easy to understand too — who else would be able to go and blow up houses like that?”
This story was originally published in npr.org. Read the full story here.
