Massive raids across Kashmir

Srinagar, Nov 12: In one of the largest coordinated operations in recent months, the J&K Police on Wednesday carried out sweeping raids across four Police districts, targeting the banned Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and its alleged support networks.

The crackdown to destroy the terror support ecosystem saw hundreds of Cordon and Search Operations (CASOs) and large-scale pre-preventive detentions of suspects across Kashmir.

According to the Police, over 200 locations in Kulgam district were raided on Wednesday alone, while more than 400 search operations have been conducted in the last four days in south Kashmir.

Police said that the raids were aimed at dismantling the terror ecosystem and its support structure at the grassroots level.

The operation follows the recent busting of an alleged inter-state terror module in Faridabad and Saharanpur, whose members were mostly from south Kashmir.

“Raids were conducted at the houses and premises of JeI members and their associates. A large quantity of incriminating material, including documents, digital devices, and printed content with direct links to the banned outfit, has been recovered,” Police said. “The seized material is being analysed.”

Following these raids, around 500 individuals from Kulgam affiliated with JeI, JKNOPs, and other banned outfits were interrogated.

Many have been shifted to the District Jail Mattan in Anantnag under preventive detention laws.

In Sopore, Police launched district-wide counter-terror operations at over 30 locations early Wednesday, citing the presence of a “separatist ecosystem.”

Officials said several individuals were being questioned to ascertain their role in unlawful or subversive activities.

Similar raids were also carried out in Ganderbal and Awantipora, as part of what the Police described as a “sustained preventive strategy” to cut off ideological, financial, and logistical links of banned organisations.

Police in Kupwara also carried out a coordinated action against members and associates of JeI.

Multiple locations in the north Kashmir district were searched as part of the ongoing efforts to curb unlawful activities and maintain peace and security in the district.

The JeI was banned in February 2019 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), after the Centre described it as an “unlawful association” with close links to separatist and terror outfits, particularly Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.

The ban came soon after the Pulwama terror attack that year, which killed 40 CRPF personnel.

Officials said the ongoing series of raids is part of a preventive campaign to neutralise the “ecosystem” that enables terror activity in Kashmir.

This includes not just active terrorists, but also those involved in logistics, radicalisation, and recruitment networks. A senior Police officer said, “The goal is to strike at the roots – those who provide ideological and financial oxygen to terrorism. Unless these networks are dismantled, new modules will keep emerging.”