CRPF ‘registering’ youth in city - marks houses, demands mobile and vehicle registration numbers

CRPF ‘registering’ youth in city
Greater Kashmir Sept 17

House to house survey; police ignorant

MUDDASIR ALI / MAJID MAQBOOL


Srinagar, Sep 16: Central Reserve Police Force has started house to house surveys to ‘register’ youth above the age of 18 years in Srinagar. The move comes after two months of pro-freedom rallies across the Kashmir valley. Surprisingly, police said they were neither contacted by the CRPF nor do they have any information about the survey.
Residents of the posh Sanat Nagar and adjoining Lal Nagar areas told Greater Kashmir on Tuesday that CRPF was conducting house to house surveys for registration of youth above 18 years of age in every house.
“The CRPF is registering the names, mobile numbers of all the male family members above 18 years of age. They are also registering the vehicle numbers, if any, of the youth,” said Riyaz of housing colony Sanat Nagar, refusing to disclose his second name for fear of reprisal by troops. The CRPF, Riyaz said, started the survey two days ago on Sunday.
Mushtaq Ahmad, another resident of the locality, also said two days back a group of CRPF troopers came into the locality early in the morning and started numbering and marking the houses. “They marked each house with chalks. For the past two days they must have covered some 400 houses in the Sanat Nagar area,” said Mushtaq.
Mushtaq said when he tried to inquire from the CRPF personnel about the purpose behind the marking and registration he was asked to leave the scene.
The move by the CRPF is worrying the residents who have started bothering about the wellbeing of their wards. “I have two sons, both are above 18 years of age. This move of registration and house to house surveys by the CRPF is worrying us,” said Saleema Jan, Mushtaq’s aunt.
The troopers, residents said, threatened them of dire consequences in case they didn’t furnish the details. They said the troopers misbehaved with them when they questioned them why they needed the details about the youths. “One of the troopers kicked me when I asked him what for he needed the names of youth,” said another resident.
Some residents, however, said the troopers admitted that they needed names of youth to keep their record in the wake of recent pro-freedom marches. “But how can we give them the names of youth. They (troops) will not spare them,” said one Shahid of Sanat Nagar. “Is participating in a march a sin? We can’t understand why our youth are subjected to unwarranted harassment?” he questioned.
Many residents of Lal Nagar near Bypass, whose houses were surveyed by the CRPF for registering the youth, said the troops while registering the youth were neither accompanied by any official from the civil department nor from the police department. Station House Officer, Sadder Police Station, Shabir Ahmad, under whose jurisdiction the areas fall, also confirmed that CRPF hasn’t informed anything to the police about the surveys. “We don’t know anything about it. If the CRPF has visited any house in connection with the survey, people should approach us,” the SHO said.
Bashir Ahmad, another resident of Rawalpora Housing Colony said this morning CRPF personnel were going from house to house and taking names and phone numbers of all male members above 18 years of age. “When they came to my house, I inquired about the information, and the troopers simply jeered at me”, he said.
Aijaz, another resident of Lal Nagar, said the CRPF troops were even taking the details of the families and house owners where there was no youth above 18 years of age.
The CRPF PRO, Prabhakar Tripathi, said the survey was part of the CRPF’s “familiarization programme.”
“A new battalion, 174, has recently taken over the area and in this connection troopers have been asked to get familiar with the residents,” he said.
Tripathi however denied that the troopers were harassing the residents. “The familiarization programme has been going on for long. So there is nothing to worry about it. By getting familiar with the residents, the troopers can easily locate unscrupulous elements in the area, if any,” he said.
Meanwhile shopkeepers of Bagh-e-Mehtab near Railway Bridge said the CRPF was registering all the shopkeepers in the area. Last month two youth of the area were killed in police firing following which the residents had held anti-CRPF and anti-police protests.