Srinagar, July 23: Reacting to the demolition of the houses of two active Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district in the aftermath of the terror attack, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Thursday that in order to improve things, people should be taken along as, according to him, razing houses won't improve things.
Speaking to reporters here, Omar Abdullah reacted to the demolition of the houses of two LeT terrorists in Anantnag, saying that retributive action in the wake of a terror attack in Anantnag that killed a policeman on Wednesday, won't help improve the situation.
"I understand the anger of the police, but the Supreme Court has issued an order stating that summary action of this kind should not be taken."
"We witnessed a similar situation after the Pahalgam attack (in April 2025) when some people's houses were bulldozed. At that time, I had to speak to the Central government to stop the trend," the Chief Minister said.
After terrorists killed Head Constable Ashiq Hussain Qureshi in Anantnag town on Wednesday while he was on Yatra duty, the houses of Adil Thokar and Haroon Rashid Ganaie, both active terrorists, were razed to the ground on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.
Omar Abdullah asserted that during the investigation into last year's Pahalgam terror attack, "it turned out that not a single local was involved and all the attackers had come from outside."
"Demolishing houses or making thousands of arrests will not improve the situation; in fact, it will only worsen it," he said.
Pointing to his previous stint as Chief Minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah added that based on his experience, the cycle of violence cannot be brought to an end without taking the people along.
"We can reach a certain point using the police, Army and the CRPF, but the real end will come only when the general public stands together against such violence."
"After the Pahalgam incident, the general public expressed their anger and raised their voice against the terror attack. Even today, people are angry over how Head Constable Ashiq was brutally killed," he said.
Referring to the detention of more than a thousand overground workers (OGWs) across the Kashmir Valley in the aftermath of Wednesday's attack, the Chief Minister added that when such reports come, people's anger turns against the system.
"I hope we take our people along in this fight, only then will we achieve real success," Omar Abdullah said.
Former Chief Minister and the President of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mehbooba Mufti condemned Wednesday's terror attack, but added that demolishing houses of alleged terrorists was "collective punishment" that has no place in a democracy.
Mehbooba Mufti on social media platform X said, "The killing of a police officer in the line of duty is a heinous and condemnable act. But detaining over a thousand people and demolishing the homes of families of two alleged militants amounts to collective punishment that has no place in a democracy."
"If the Centre maintains that militancy has been reduced to near zero, it must adopt a more humane and lawful approach towards innocent civilians instead of resorting to "tit for tat" for an entire community," the former Chief Minister added.
Houses of active terrorists have been demolished in Kashmir earlier as well, but the action had stopped for nearly one year due to a drop in violence levels.
Policeman Ashiq Hussain Qureshi was killed while he was deployed on Shri Amarnath ji Yatra duties has rung alarm bells in the security paraphernalia as the manhunt to trace the assailant is being relentlessly carried out.
"Won't rest unless the coward assailant/assailants are brought to justice," a senior police officer said while expressing solidarity with the bereaved policeman's family.
--IANS
