On November 10, a car-bomb attack near Delhi’s Red Fort became a breaking point in the socio-political and psychological landscape of India-administered Kashmir.

In the immediate aftermath, the people of Kashmir, as well as those living across India, were treated as suspected elements and forced to face the punishment for crimes they never committed.

In Pulwama, south of Srinagar, the home of Umar Nabi, the main accused of the Delhi attack, was demolished by Indian forces, illustrating both collective punishment and a blatant human rights violation under the Hindutva regime. 

Nabi was not an uneducated person, nor was he an unknown, irrelevant, or helpless young man; he belonged to one of the most respected segments of society and was a doctor, a healer, a lifesaver.

This act violates both the domestic law of the Indian Supreme Court, “ruling requiring prior judicial sanction for demolitions”, and international law of the Geneva Conventions, Article 33, “prohibiting punishment of families for alleged offences.”

This is not a new strategy of the Indian government to impose collective punishment on the people of Kashmir.

During the May 2025 crisis, the homes of several Kashmiris were demolished on mere suspicion, without investigation, even though they were not involved in the Pahalgam attack. 

Over 2,800 Kashmiris were detained after the Pahalgam terror attack, coupled with accusing and punishing the Kashmiris, reflects the deliberate strategy of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to suppress and torture the people of the region.

The government of India

© TRT World