‘Nothing To Do With Militancy’, Says Tribal Family Whose Mud House Was Demolished Post-Pahalgam Attack

In a remote border village of Narikut, about 20 kilometres from Kupwara town in North Kashmir, a tribal Gujjar family’s house was demolished by authorities on Saturday (April 26) evening. Fifteen members of Mohammad Yaqoob Tedwa’s family, including his elderly mother, young children, and his brother’s family, lived in that house, a modest six-room structure made of wood and mud. The army and CRPF forces arrived around 7:30 PM.

Yaqoob, a labourer, was away when soldiers ordered his family out of the house under the pretext of an "investigation". Within moments, the home was blown to pieces. Smoke still clings to the wreckage. Burnt toys, charred notebooks, and blackened beams lie scattered in the rubble. Villagers sit quietly in small groups nearby, watching the ashes.

“They gave us no time to save anything,” Yaqoob said. “My son was getting married in two days. We had borrowed three and a half lakh rupees from neighbours and relatives to prepare for the wedding. We bought clothes, jewellery, and other things - and now everything has burnt to ashes.”

Neighbours say the soldiers cleared the entire village before carrying out the demolition. “They ordered everyone out and marched us away,” said Ishfaq, a young man who lives in their neighbourhood.

This demolition is part of a crackdown across Kashmir in the aftermath of the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack, in which 25 tourists and one local were killed. Since then, authorities have razed at least nine houses belonging to suspected militants and alleged overground workers in South and North Kashmir. More than 500 raids have been conducted across the Valley in the past five days, with hundreds detained for questioning.

Yaqoob’s family says they have no connection to militancy. He says his brother Farooq Tedwa crossed over to Pakistan in the 1990s, like many others during the peak of the insurgency, and never returned. “He lives there now, with his own family, and we have no contact with him," Yaqoob says. "What does that have to do with us here? How does blowing up a poor man’s house and making his children homeless solve anything?”

With nowhere to go, the Tedwa family is now trying to build a makeshift wooden hut with the help of neighbours. Narikut, a border village, is mostly home to impoverished families who earn a living as labourers, either working for one another or for the army.

The crackdown has drawn criticism from political leaders across Kashmir. Former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said security forces must distinguish between “terrorists” and civilians while Srinagar MP Ruhullah Mehdi said Kashmir and Kashmiris are facing “collective punishment”. 

So far, there has been no official statement from the Jammu and Kashmir civil administration, the army, or the J&K Police regarding the demolitions. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has since taken over the probe into the Pahalgam attack.

(The story will be updated once we get a quote from the police)