Kashmir Police to Seize Properties Owned By Residents Used For 'Militant Activities'

The armed insurgency began in Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir in the late Eighties with militant groups fighting for the region to be either part of India or Pakistan. The Indian government maintains Pakistan is sponsoring terrorism in Kashmir, something Islamabad denies.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police have started the process of seizing properties that are allegedly used to shelter militants in the region.

The process of seizures - also called attachment under the Indian constitution - began in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir union territory.

These are carried out by invoking various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), senior police officials told Sputnik.

According to the police force, a dozen properties have been identified in Srinagar alone that were either used to house militants or to plan militant attacks against the security forces.

Rakesh Balwal, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in Srinagar, told Sputnik: "We have identified around 12 properties that were used for militant activities and are in the process of attaching them."

According to Balwal, the properties that were identified were "investigated" during 2020 to 2021 and are in at least six different parts of Srinagar.

Although the operation to seize the properties kicked off in Srinagar, a senior police official said the exercise is likely to be carried across the Kashmir region.

Overall militancy waned in Kashmir, but the past decade has witnessed a new wave of insurgents, also referred as "new-age militants" on certain media platforms.

These militants are poorly trained and most use homes of locals for the purpose of shelter and operation, police have said in the past.

In the majority of gun battles that take place, militants take shelter in houses and eventually get killed there.

According to police statistics, last year a total of 168 militants - comprising 19 foreign militants and 149 local residents, were killed in 90 gun battles throughout Kashmir.

Earlier, the Srinagar police said in a statement: "The process of attaching some properties which have been used for militant purposes has begun according to Section 2(g) & 25 of the ULP Act. Don't shelter or harbour militants or their associates. Legal action will be supplemented by property attachments according to law".

Section 2(g) refers to “proceeds of terrorism” which allows Indian authorities to seize properties which have been allegedly "derived or obtained from committing any terrorist act".

It also allows authorities to seize properties "used or is intended to be used, for the purpose of a terrorist organisation".

Section 25 of the ULP Act empowers officers investigating militancy cases to conduct the seizures.