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hours later the police came in Indian-controlled Kashmir Shopkeeper Bilal Ahmed Wani was released but his son kept in custody over this month’s deadly attack New Delhi After investigating the blast, Wani set himself on fire, his family members said.
The 55-year-old dry fruit seller was treated at three hospitals but died a day later. His relatives, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals by authorities for speaking to the media, said the stress and humiliation in custody drove him to self-immolation. Police Wani was said to have died due to “self-inflicted injuries”.
At least 10 people were killed and 32 others were injured in the November 10 blast near New Delhi’s historic Red Fort. Indian investigators immediately focused on Kashmir, conducting widespread raids, detaining suspects and interrogating thousands of people in what officials called a “heinous terrorist incident”. Hundreds of people are still in custody.
The blast came hours after police in Indian-controlled Kashmir said they had dismantled a suspected terror cell operating from the region on the outskirts of New Delhi. Authorities initially arrested at least seven people, including two Kashmiri doctors, and seized a large quantity of bomb-making material in Faridabad, a city near the capital.
On November 14, some explosives seized in Faridabad and brought to a police station in Srinagar city of Kashmir exploded, killing at least nine people. Officials were still investigating the police station blast but the area’s top police officer Nalin Prabhat ruled out any sabotage, hinting that the blast could have been caused by mishandling of explosive material.
Relatives say action pushed man to despair
New Delhi The blast triggered a massive security crackdown in Kashmir, including raids, mass interrogations and the detention of dozens of people.
Police detained Wani’s elder son, student Jasir Bilal Wani, on 14 November. A day later, authorities detained Wani, his younger son and his brother, a physics lecturer. Wani and the younger son were released the same evening and his brother was released after Wani’s death.
Wani’s relatives said the men were innocent and accused the authorities of using them as scapegoats.
He said Wani returned home a day later upset and broken. Relatives said that the next morning, he went outside, poured gasoline on himself and set himself on fire. He was taken to a nearby hospital, they said, from where he was referred to a larger medical facility before being shifted to the main hospital in Srinagar, where he died.
There have been security operations in the area before, particularly during large-scale popular uprisings. But the ongoing crackdown is remarkably severe, given the sanctions imposed only in 2019, when India revoked the special status for Indian-controlled Kashmir that had given the region some degree of autonomy.
Fear in the medical community
India’s National Investigation Agency said the car used in the New Delhi blast was registered in the name of a Kashmiri man and identified the suspected suicide bomber as Omar Un Nabi, a doctor.
Officials said government forces demolished his family home in Kashmir’s southern Pulwama district. Troops have previously blown up the homes of suspects accused of aiding militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir.
The agency said last week that Wani’s son “worked closely with terrorist Omar un Nabi to plan the terrorist massacre,” alleging that he provided technical assistance by modifying drones and attempting to build rockets. He is in custody.
Authorities have also stepped up a crackdown on what police call a “white-collar terrorist ecosystem of radicalized professionals and students,” stepping up investigations into several Kashmiri doctors. Police said such persons have maintained contacts with “foreign handlers”. Pakistan And other countries.”
Security officials have reportedly sought details about the doctors’ personal backgrounds, professional networks and ideological leanings, causing concern and fear within the medical community. Several doctors, speaking on condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation if they spoke to the media, described the investigation as unprecedented and intrusive.
Avinash Mohanane, a former Indian intelligence officer who served in Kashmir and Pakistan, said the module, whatever officials call it, is comprised of educated people and reflects deep anger that has been simmering beneath the surface for a long time.
Mohanane said Kashmiris feel deep, underlying anger because their political aspirations have not been fulfilled and the people of the region “feel disempowered and humiliated.”
reservoir of anger
Militants in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s regime since 1989. India says that the insurgency in Kashmir is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies this charge and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle.
India and Pakistan each administer a portion of Kashmir, but both claim the entire region.
Praveen Donthi, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, said political discontent after India’s 2019 decision was “fueling pent-up anger and a resurgence of extremism.”
Authorities in the region have since stepped up their crackdown on pro-independence groups, the independent press, and rights activists. In an effort to shape what New Delhi calls “Naya Kashmir” or “New Kashmir”, the people of the region have been largely silenced, their civil liberties curbed, as India has shown no tolerance for any form of dissent.
Donthy said the actions taken after the New Delhi blast were “exacerbating the existing sense of widespread insecurity and vulnerability, which is unlikely to help address alienation and anger, but will rather fuel them.”
“New Delhi’s moderate approach in the region would be far more effective in preventing any further cycles of violence,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Rajesh Roy in New Delhi contributed to this report.