Tales of “hounding and harassment” were shared at a youth conference in Srinagar on Sunday (December 7, 2025) that sought to understand why local professionally qualified Kashmiris, including doctors with white-collar jobs, were turning to violence, an issue that came to the fore after the Red Fort blast in New Delhi.
Organised by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the conference was attended by the relatives of active militants, youth facing militancy charges and students who get ‘hounded’ outside J&K after militant attacks in Kashmir.
“I was arrested just two hours before my exams for a law degree. Most of the rights I had read in the books were violated. I was picked up without a search warrant or an arrest warrant. My right to dignity was compromised when I was asked to remove my clothes. I realised that it’s might is right,” said Raqif Makhdoomi, an undertrial, who was arrested in 2021 on terror-related charges that are denied by him.
Speaking in front of a huge audience of youth and top leadership of the PDP, including former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Makhdoomi, a resident of Srinagar, said he “now fears frequent rounding up by the law enforcing agencies”. “After the Delhi blast, I thought I will be picked up too. Whenever I try to mainstream myself and accept India as my country, the treatment we are meted out pushes us to different situations. Kashmiriyat cannot be a one-sided affair,” Mr. Makhdoomi told the audience. “Distance up to Delhi may have reduced but not that of hearts,” he added.
Another youth from south Kashmir’s Bijbehara, Abbas Ganai, a PhD scholar, sought Ms. Mufti’s intervention to end the current practice of detaining the relatives of militants “for no crime”. “My cousin disappeared in 2018 to become a militant. Because of him, my father and I face mid-night knocks from security agencies. My brother, who works, is asked to leave work and present himself before the police. We are being raided and picked up frequently,” Mr. Ganai said. “Punish the one who has committed any crime but stop punishing the relatives,” he added.
Like Ganai, Naveed Nisar, whose father was a former militant, accused the security agencies of hounding him for his father’s deeds. “I have not been affiliated to any organisation ever, except for the J&K State Board of Education. All I have focused on is my studies. But my passport is withheld because of my father,” said Ganai, who is pursuing an MBBS degree.
Many youths raised the issue of unemployment, education policy and corruption during the conference. Several youths shared the experience of being hounded outside J&K after a militant attack in Kashmir.
“We condemn the Pahalgam attack. However, students from Kashmir are easy targets after such attacks. We face hate crimes and questioning. We need to build more up-to-the-mark professional colleges so that Kashmiri students are not forced to leave this place,” said Noorul Sabha, a student from Srinagar.
Farooq Kuthoo, president of the Travel Agents Association of Kashmir (TAAK), said his son had to run for his life in a college in Pune after the Pahalgam attack earlier this year. “I had to take my son to a psychologist for counselling. He was so terrified that he decided to pursue studies in Kashmir only,” Mr. Kuthoo said.
Pointing to the stories of ordeal faced by youths of Kashmir in and outside J&K, Ms. Mufti said she will reach out to political parties across the country to address the issues of Kashmiri students and labourers.
“We have inherited a problem called the Kashmir issue since 1947. It remains the root cause of many problems. However, the policy adopted by the Prime Minister, the Union Home Minister and the National Security Adviser (NSA) after 2019 in Kashmir has failed. Doctors, who are the future of this place, have become suicide bombers. Delhi needs to rethink,” Ms. Mufti said.
She said there is a deep sense of helplessness and despair in J&K. “We have to put up a fight. However, guns and bombing are not the right tools. It only brings misery to our Kashmiris living outside. The Kashmir issue is to be resolved and the dignity to be restored,” Ms. Mufti said.
The former J&K Chief Minister said the Red Fort blast shook her deeply. “People of J&K want to live with dignity, not under pressure or draconian laws like PSA. We don’t want our youth to be pushed to extremes. If the Centre claims normalcy, Delhi must introspect and change its approach towards J&K,” she added.
The PDP plans to hold similar conferences in other districts of Kashmir “to understand the aspirations and feelings of the youth”.
Published – December 08, 2025 12:44 am IST
