Crackdown on religious organizations continues, Jamiat-e-Ahle-Hadith targeted

By: Mudasir Ahmad/Shah Nawaz
Srinagar: In the continued massive crackdown on Jamaat-e-Islami and Hurriyat activists, during the previous night police and security forces have rounded up dozens of Jamiat-e-Ahle-Hadith preachesr including its Vice-President Mushtaq Veeri and another prominent leader Maqbool Afrani. This is for the first time Jamiat-e-Ahle-Hadith has been targeted by the police and security forces in Kashmir Valley since the eruption of militancy
Recently Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that the government will act tough against separatists and other organizations that are fueling militancy in Kashmir. Jamiat-e-Ahle-Hadith is regarded by police as the ideological organization behind the organizations like Lashkar and ISIS. The Central Government has recently asked State Governor to arrest all the separatist leaders, other political and religious organizations like Jamaat-e-Islami. Reports said that during the previous night, raids were conducted across Kashmir Valley especially in South Kashmir on the preachers of Jamiat-e-Ahle-Hadith and other such religious activists. In the past two nights in the continued crackdowns, police has arrested over 200 people and official sources said that these raids will continue as they have been instructed to arrest all the trouble makers on the ground before the holding of elections in Kashmir.
Acting tough against separatists, the Central Government has decided not only to withdraw their security, but they have decided to jail them and book them in different cases pending against them, senior police officers were quoted by some New Delhi based news channels. Already JKLF Chief Yasin Malik has been arrested while as ailing Syed Ali Shah Geelani along with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is still under house arrest. State Police, reports said, were waiting for the signal from the Central Government about the arrest of entire Hurriyat leadership.
Reports further said that police has been instructed to make the list of all the trouble makers in various places of South Kashmir and in particular in Srinagar city, to avoid any threats to the voters to vote for the coming elections. “In the coming days, there would be more arrests especially of those youth who are involved in stone pelting incidents across Kashmri”, a senior police officer told this reporter. He said that raids would continue till the police are satisfied that they have rounded up all those elements who could be the trouble makers on the streets of Kashmir on the eve of elections.