'Such actions will only fuel anger': Omar Abdullah on demolition of Delhi Red Fort bomber Dr Umar’s house using explosives

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Friday questioned the demolition of the family home of a Delhi 'suicide bomber', warning that 'such actions' would only fuel anger.

“If terrorism could be stopped by these actions, it would’ve ended long ago,” he said, adding that terrorism had declined in J&K not too long ago “without the need to blow up anyone’s home”.

Security forces carried out three controlled explosions early on Friday to raze the two-storey house of Dr Umar Un Nabi in his native Koil village, south Kashmir’s Pulwama district. The demolition coincided with a police operation to map potential sources of vehicles that could be “misused for unlawful activities”.



Authorities evacuated Umar’s family and nearby residents before using explosives to reduce the house to rubble between 12.30am and 2.30am. Residents alleged that around a dozen neighbouring homes suffered some damage.

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti criticised the action, saying the government should target perpetrators, not their families.

“We are not against action being taken against those involved. But targeting their friends, relatives, parents and siblings?” she asked.

NC MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi described the demolition as “collective punishment” for Umar’s attack near Delhi’s Red Fort last Monday. “Making an entire family homeless during the harsh winter of Kashmir without evidence/court order or any law linking them to the attack is an act of cruelty. It doesn’t bring justice to the innocent lives that we lost in the terror attack, and it doesn’t achieve the ends of justice,” Mehdi said.

Dr Umar, based in Faridabad, had been reported missing after his associate was arrested on suspicion of working with a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror module.

Police operations in the Valley have also taken teams to car dealerships and fertiliser and chemical outlets to check sales records for suspicious activity. In Awantipora, south of Srinagar, authorities attached the home of a member of the separatist Jammu and Kashmir People’s League, Mohd Yaqoob Sheikh, suspected of being in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The actions have sparked debate over the use of collective punishment in counter-terrorism efforts in the region.



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