House of Kashmiri seized for allegedly providing shelter to Kashmiri freedom fighters

On January 29th, police seized the residential house of a Kashmiri civilian who allegedly provided shelter to a Kashmiri freedom fighter in Central Kashmir’s Budgam district.

In a statement, the police stated that it seized the residential house of a Kashmiri civilian, Mohammad Ramzan Mir, a resident of Budgam district. He was accused of supporting Kashmiri struggle for self-determination and working in favor of it. The house was seized under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, which has been systematically used to detain Kashmiris and Muslims in India, and also deprive them of their properties, lands, and livelihoods. 

The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act is in place to “prevent terror-related activities, unlawful associations, and activities that may endanger the sovereignty and integrity of India.” It allows the government to jail an individual for six months, without a trial or bail, stonewalling any judicial intervention. According to Amnesty International and the United Nations, the UAPA does not meet international human rights standards. The UN has said that the UAPA utilizes “imprecise criteria, contains a vague and overly broad definition of  ‘terrorist act’, allows people to be held in lengthy pre-trial detention and makes securing bail very difficult”.

Last year, in 2023, around 250 properties of pro-freedom Kashmiris have been identified by the Indian state and are expected to be sealed, with 60 properties in Jammu division and the rest in the Kashmir valley. Many of these properties have already been sealed. In the months of November and December, around 12 such properties were seized.