Srinagar: A day after suspected militants killed a retired soldier and injured his wife and niece in south Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir police apprehended over 500 people from across the Kashmir Valley.
Many of those captured were relatives of Kashmiri militants stationed in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK).
“There have been massive detentions across the Kashmir Valley and the number is well above 500,” a senior police officer told The Indian Express. “I don’t remember detentions on this scale in the recent past following a militant attack,” he said, Indian Express reported.
These detentions, according to the officer, were made to send a message to militants “operating from across the border that such attacks won’t be tolerated”, and that in the past, “sending such messages have had the desired results”.
On Monday, unidentified gunmen opened fire on retired soldier Manzoor Ahmad Wagay, his wife, and her niece in Behibagh village, Kulgam district, south Kashmir.
While Wagay (45), who was hit in the abdomen, died in the incident, the two women were injured in the leg and are being treated.
“They (militants) have crossed the red line this time by targeting the family members of the soldier,” a police officer said.
While authorities have targeted Pakistan-based Kashmiri militants in the Valley in recent years by seizing their homes and properties, this is the first time that their family members and relatives have been seized in such significant numbers at the same time.