[Reader-list] In Kashmir, parents fear a witch-hunt

[Harsh Kapoor]

The Indian Express
  March 19, 2003

In Kashmir, parents fear a witch-hunt
Muzamil Jaleel

Srinagar, March 18: They sold their land, spent family fortunes and 
travelled hundreds of kilometres, believing they had escaped the 
violence in the Valley. But the arrest of two Kashmiri agriculture 
students in Uttar Pradesh, on the charge of being Jaish-e-Mohammed 
activists, has returned fear to homes in the Valley as more and more 
parents are beginning to worry for the children they sent out.

The state government too is shaken and CM Mufti Mohammed Sayeed plans 
to take up the matter with Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and UP CM 
Mayawati.

Sources say Sayeed is going to seek ''an immediate end to this police 
witch-hunt of Kashmiri students.'' His daughter and PDP 
vice-president Mehbooba Mufti will be visiting Muzaffarnagar and 
Shamli in western UP tomorrow to restore confidence among Kashmiri 
students there.

National Conference president and MP Omar Abdullah has also urged 
Advani to intervene and stop ''harassment'' of Kashmiri students in 
UP. In a statement today, Omar said Kashmiri students in Meerut and 
Ghaziabad were living in constant fear of police.

Over the years, almost 20,000 Kashmiri boys and girls have left the 
Valley for professional courses or jobs, especially in Karnataka, 
Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Delhi. Besides, there are several 
hundreds studying or working in hotels, small companies and call 
centres in Delhi.

The arrests saw a surge after the attack on Red Fort and Parliament, 
when Kashmiris topped the security agencies' list of usual suspects. 
There were several instances where innocent youths were rounded up in 
the process.

On March 12, Ajaz Hussain Jan of Bandipore - he's a B.Sc agriculture 
final year student at Rashtriya Kisan Post Graduate College, Shamli - 
was arrested along with his classmate, Mehraj-ud-din Sheikh of 
Handwara, from Muzzafarnagar in UP.

Within a few days, two more Kashmiri students were arrested and 
expulsion notices issued by the college authorities to several 
others. Two of Ajaz's relatives, Khursheed Alam Jan and Hafizullah 
Jan, who went to see him in Shamli were also detained by police.

While the family and police sources say they were arrested on Sunday, 
Muzaffarnagar SSP B R Meena claims the two were held on Monday 
morning for questioning to get details about the family, and released 
the same day. He admits they found nothing to link the two with the 
Jaish-e-Mohammed.

''Our father was killed by unidentified gunmen in 1995. For his 
safety, my mother wanted Ajaz to go away. How can he be a militant?'' 
questions Asif Jan, Ajaz's younger brother.

''He completed Class XI and XII there and then joined B.Sc. 
(Agriculture). He was here in December, preparing for his final exams 
on March 20. We were expecting him back with an agriculture degree in 
a few months.''

Khalid Muzzafar, Bandipore sub-divisional police officer, admits he 
cross-checked Azaj's credentials and that ''there is no information 
of his involvement with any militant group''. Indicating he is 
concerned at the spate of such arrests outside the state, Inspector 
General of Police, Kashmir range, K Rajendra says: ''I have 
personally written to the Director General of UP police, saying we 
should be informed about any such arrests so that the antecedents of 
the youths are checked here.''

The Resident Commissioner of the J-K government in New Delhi, 
Khursheed Ahmad Ganai, also met deputy commissioners of 
Muzzafarnagar, Meerut and Saharanpur recently and urged them to 
ensure that Kashmiri students there are not ostracised.

Sitting far away in Kashmir, Ajaz's family isn't convinced by such 
assurances. ''We don't know how to prove him innocent,'' says Asif. 
''Everybody believes when police arrest a Kashmiri outside. And 
there's no way to prove them wrong.''

Another publicised case was the arrest of four Kashmiri youths in 
Thane on October 23, 2001, who were paraded as Hizbul Mujahideen 
militants. They were charged with arms possession, accused of 
plotting to kill prominent Maharashtra politicians and handed over to 
J-K police. But the investigation that followed came up with little 
to prove that the four, who worked as security guards, were 
militants. The Thane police returned with more evidence and they were 
sentenced to life imprisonment recently.

Then there was the Punjab case, where a group of Kashmiri youth from 
Shopian were intercepted by police near Amritsar and called 
''dangerous terrorists.'' This seemed even more incredulous as these 
youngsters were actually Mirzayis on their way back from Qadiyan, a 
holy place for the sect. Says IGP Rajendra: ''We were also surprised 
when we heard about these arrests. There's no one from this community 
who has ever been involved with militancy.''

Kashmiri parents who had couged up hard-earned money to send their 
children outside the state are devastated at the turn of events. ''I 
sold family land to pay capitation fees for my sons. I wanted to keep 
them away from the trouble and uncertainty in Kashmir. But now that 
seems more dangerous,'' says Ali Mohammad Khanday, whose two teenaged 
sons are studying in Bangalore.

Adil Manzoor, who studies computers in Delhi, says he can feel the 
distrust in the eyes of even his colleagues. ''Whenever there's an 
incident, they joke about our involvement. We know most of the time 
they mean it.''
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