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A day after a police officer was killed in a militant attack in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, authorities on Thursday demolished the houses of two local Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants in the area.
Officials said the houses of Aadil Thokar, a resident of Guree village, and Haroon Ganai of Hassanpora in Anantnag district, were razed in the early hours of Thursday.
Both Thokar and Ganai are alleged to be associated with the banned LeT, which has operated in the Kashmir Valley for decades.
The action came a day after Jammu and Kashmir Police officer Ashiq Hussain Qureshi was shot dead by militants at Lal Chowk, the commercial hub of Anantnag town, on Wednesday. Security agencies have not said whether the two LeT militants were linked to the killing.
Last year, security forces demolished the house of Dr Umar Nabi, who was accused of carrying out a suicide car bombing near the Red Fort that killed 13 people.
Wider crackdown
Following Wednesday’s attack, security agencies launched a major crackdown across the Valley, detaining nearly 2,500 suspected Over Ground Workers (OGWs).
The detentions were reported from Anantnag, Baramulla, Shopian and Srinagar districts.
The attack was the first targeted killing of a police officer since militants killed 26 people in Pahalgam on April 22 last year. The slain cop was on Amarnath yatra duty when he was shot dead.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti condemned the killing of the policeman but criticized the authorities’ response, saying the detention of more than 1,000 people and the demolition of the houses of two alleged militants amounted to “collective punishment”.
In a post on X, she urged the Centre to adopt a more humane and lawful approach towards civilians, arguing that if militancy had been reduced to near zero, punitive measures against families and communities were unjustified.
Published on July 23, 2026
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