SRINAGAR / AMRITSAR: Anger is growing among the local population in the wake of sweeping detentions and the indiscriminate demolition suspects’ homes in India-held Kashmir, amid a hunt for the perpetrators of the Pahalgam attack.

India has pointed the finger at Pakistan — without any proof — and unleashed a raft of provocative actions, including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty in the wake of the incident.

Meanwhile, police have launched a vast manhunt across held Kashmir and detained around 2,000 people for questioning.

They have announced a two million rupee ($23,500) bounty for information leading to each man’s arrest.

Residents of border villages fear getting caught in the crossfire if fighting breaks out

While several groups have protested the attack, the crackdown has also sparked warnings that the wider public is suffering during the search for the few.

Aga Ruhullah, a federal lawmaker from Kashmir, said: “Kashmir and Kashmiris are being given a collective punishment.”

Demolitions and detentions

The homes of men suspected of having links to the attackers have also been blown up at night.

Yasmeena, the sister of fugitive accused Asif Sheikh, said her family was being punished, with their home was demolished even though they had not seen him for three years.

“If my brother is involved, how is it the family’s sin?” she said. “This house doesn’t belong to him alone.”

Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men — one Indian and two men alleged to be Pakistanis. However, police are hunting for at least two local suspects, and the demolition of several homes in held Kashmir seems to contradict New Delhi’s claim that the attackers hailed from Pakistan.

Police are also sweeping up those they suspect may have information on the attackers.

“It’s a revolving door in police stations as part of the ongoing investigation,” said a senior police official told AFP.

“Some have already been let go, and more are being summoned to police stations,” the officer said, adding: “These are not arrests, just for seeking information that could lead to the terrorists”.

Fear grips border villages

In Daoke village on the Indian border, residents say nothing has changed on the ground yet — but there is a growing anxiety about the coming weeks.

“The barbaric attack on the civilians in Kashmir was tragic, but no matter what, the lives lost are not coming back,” says Hardev Singh, 65.

“Any war would push both our countries back by many years, and there would be an even bigger loss of human lives.”

He has lived through two conflicts — in 1971 and 1999 — and knows the drill if fighting erupts again.

A border fence patrolled by troops slices in two the farmlands near Daoke, home to around 1,500 people.

In the nearby border village of Rajatal, located between Amritsar and Lahore, residents remember the days when the golden farmland stretched without restriction.

“We used to go to the open ground on the other side to graze our cattle,” recalls 77-year-old Sardar Lakha Singh, sitting about 100 metres from fences topped with barbed wire.

Farmers can now obtain special passes to go close to the border, including beyond the fence but still within Indian territory, but they must always be accompanied by a soldier.

Panic gripped border villages last week after rumours suggested farmers would be stopped from accessing fields too close to Pakistan.

Sikh elder Sardar Lakha Sin­gh advised younger villagers to accept their fate and not to worry. “Whatever is going to happen will happen anyway,” he said.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2025