Centre moves 100 companies of paramilitary forces to J & K, crackdown on Jamaat-e-Islami begins

February 23: In the aftermath of Pulwama attacks on 14 February, the Centre has airlifted hundred more companies of paramilitary forces to Srinagar in an effort to tighten security after the detention of 12 Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, including its chief Abdul Hamid Fayaz, as well as JKLF chief Yasin Malik.

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday questioned the legality of the crackdown on Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir leaders, saying the “arbitrary” move would only “precipitate matters” in the state. The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister was reacting to the government crackdown on separatists and Jamaat-e-Islami which began on Friday night.

The fresh deployment includes 45 companies of the CRPF, 35 of the BSF and ten each of the 10 SSB, and the ITBP. About two dozen people associated with the Jamaat-e-Islami were also arrested from central, north and south Kashmir as part of a crackdown after the terror attack on a CRPF convoy that killed 44 troopers in Pulwama.

Though police termed the detentions as routine, officials privy to the developments said this is the first major crackdown on the organisation that is part of the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, a separatist conglomerate. The Jamaat issued a statement condemning the detentions