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Basharat Peer in New Delhi
The separatist All-Parties Hurriyat Conference has criticised the Centre's decision to declare Jammu, Doda, Udhampur and Kathua districts as disturbed areas and bring them under the purview of the Disturbed Areas Act and the Armed Forces (J&K) Special Powers Act, 1990.
The Hurriyat said the move was a government ploy to crush the 'pro-movement' people in the Jammu region.
In a statement, the Hurriyat said, "The extension of the Disturbed Areas Act to the Jammu region is because the Government of India understands that it is not possible to curb the spirit of the people of Jammu & Kashmir clamouring for independence. So the decision to repress the Jammu region along with the Kashmir valley.'
The Disturbed Areas Act and the Armed Forces (J&K) Special Powers Act gives special powers to the armed forces to conduct searches, make seizures and even open fire without authorisation from the civil administration.
These laws, which have been in place in the valley since 1990 and in the Rajouri and Poonch districts due to their proximity to the border, protect the forces from prosecution for anything done in good faith.
'By including the various districts of the Jammu region in the disturbed areas, the government is clearly acknowledging the freedom movement in the various parts of the Jammu region,' former Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Omar Farooq told rediff.com
He alleged that it clearly showed the government's game plan to let the security forces get away with human rights violations and killings in the districts of Jammu as well.
But intelligence reports say militants are carrying out increased attacks in the region to force the Hindus of Jammu, especially those living in Doda and Rajouri districts, to migrate.
Even the army has reportedly suggested that the Hindus living in the higher reaches of Doda and Rajouri migrate to settlements in the plains as it is not possible to safeguard them there.
But the Hurriyat leadership is not prepared to buy this argument. "We condemn the recent massacre, but we do not believe that there is any pro-freedom group behind it or that it is a deliberate attempt on their part to force another migration," the mirwaiz said.
"Kashmir has already seen the ill-effects of one migration [of the Pandits] and no pro-freedom group would kill innocents and think of forcing a migration on the people who have every right to live on their land," he added.
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